Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Massive Supernova Echos in Space- Meg Mickelsen
A supernova explosion is magnificent. It brilliantly shines, blinding, than fades away in less than a week, only a fraction of a second relative to the explosions size. Yet this spectacular, fleeting event leaves an echo for us to feast our eyes on. A supernova leaves a colorful remnant of its former glory hanging in space for hundreds of years. Scientists have long puzzled over what could power such a noble echo. Tycho, a supernova, born from the death of a white dwarf star, has solved part of the mystery. In her glory days, the stunning Tycho rivaled venus, spewing silicon and iron into space at over 11 million miles per hour. Scientists have discovered that Tycho's remnant emits a shock wave at about Mach 300 (300 times the speed of soun). A reverse shock wave races back at 1000 Mach, heating the remnant and fueling its majestic glow. I found this article at sciencedaily.com. It caught my eye because it reminded me of the magnificene of space. Although people often remark that space makes them feel small, this sort of terrible, fantastic information makes me feel big. I hope it makes you feel big too. Happy thanksgiving.
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I'm so fascinated by outer space. It is some of the true magic in our universe, galaxy and beyond. It's magnificent and mind boggling that so much happens that is out of our species' consciousness.
ReplyDeleteSpace and the cosmos are honestly so interesting, so thank you for sharing! This can help American astrologists become more advance and excel over other regions. lets go america
ReplyDeleteThis is soooo cool! Wuggitaweewowoo. I have to google more about it! Thanks
ReplyDeleteSweet! Couldn't have said it better, Gloria - outer space is truly mysterious and perplexing. The more I think about it, the more mind-baffled I become, and it's amazing to me that such beauty just exists naturally in a world of its own, far away from us, without anyone doing anything to maintain it or embellish it.
ReplyDelete-Hannah Selby 4th
This is pretty incredible. The way that light travels, it's almost like these events are paused or moving in slow motion from our point of view. This gives us a great way to study them and find out more about our universe.
ReplyDeleteByron Otis- How eloquent you are, Meg! I certainly wouldn't feel as emotional as I do without your beautiful language. But yes, the proportions of the cosmos certainly do cause one to reflect on one's relation to it, and I'm glad you feel big.
ReplyDeleteSpace is wonderful and also makes me feel big and literally full of wonder at space and the fact that I am able to observe it.
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