• Question: When a super nova occurs how strong is the blast?

    Asked by kenny13 to Aggelos, Andrew, Eileen, Naomi, Shane on 16 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Aggelos Zacharopoulos

      Aggelos Zacharopoulos answered on 16 Nov 2012:

      @kenny13,
      a supernova produces a mighty blast which produces a huge amount of radiation as well as sends all the star’s mass into space. So we wouldn’t want to be near one when it takes place!

    • Photo: Eileen Diskin

      Eileen Diskin answered on 19 Nov 2012:

      Supernova blasts are very very big…the radiation it produces can be brighter than the rest of the entire galaxy its in! The blast explodes the stars materials out at a speed of over 30,000 km per second.

      Scientists say that there hasn’t been a supernova in our galaxy in over 400 years. But here’s a cool photo of one in a different, nearby galaxy:

      http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_125.html

    • Photo: Andrew Jackson

      Andrew Jackson answered on 22 Nov 2012:

      my favourite thing about supernovae is that they are the place where the heavy elements were created. The big bang only made the ligher ones like hydrogen and helium with a tiny bit of lithium thrown in. The other elements like oxygen. carbon, iron and nitrogen which are so important for life were all created in stars and scattered around the universe after supernovae.

      So, most of the material that makes up you and I was born in a star somewhere very long ago and probably very far away!.. I am stardust!

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