https://www.universetoday.com/14766...ppening-inside-a-star-as-its-going-supernova/
Gravitational waves could show what’s happening inside a star as it’s going supernova
It’s kind of hard to see inside a star as it’s blowing up, because of the whole “blowing up” part, but gravitational waves – tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime itself – may help astronomers unlock how the biggest stars die.
It takes a lot of raw energy to power a supernova. When the biggest stars die, they can outshine entire galaxies (that’s hundreds of billions of stars, for anyone counting). And while we know that supernovae do happen, we’re not exactly sure what triggers them.
We do know a few things, however. In the last moments before a star goes kablooey, it has a core of iron surrounded by layer after infernal layer of fusing elements. The rest of the star squeezes down onto that core, fusing the iron into heavy elements, but that fusion doesn’t release any energy.
Without a source of energy, the collapse of the star becomes unstoppable. But at the last moment, right before total catastrophic breakdown, the intense pressures shove electrons into protons, turning them into neutrons. The resulting giant ball of neutrons (a proto-neutron star) is able to briefly halt the collapse, triggering the explosion.
more at link..................
Gravitational waves could show what’s happening inside a star as it’s going supernova
It’s kind of hard to see inside a star as it’s blowing up, because of the whole “blowing up” part, but gravitational waves – tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime itself – may help astronomers unlock how the biggest stars die.
It takes a lot of raw energy to power a supernova. When the biggest stars die, they can outshine entire galaxies (that’s hundreds of billions of stars, for anyone counting). And while we know that supernovae do happen, we’re not exactly sure what triggers them.
We do know a few things, however. In the last moments before a star goes kablooey, it has a core of iron surrounded by layer after infernal layer of fusing elements. The rest of the star squeezes down onto that core, fusing the iron into heavy elements, but that fusion doesn’t release any energy.
Without a source of energy, the collapse of the star becomes unstoppable. But at the last moment, right before total catastrophic breakdown, the intense pressures shove electrons into protons, turning them into neutrons. The resulting giant ball of neutrons (a proto-neutron star) is able to briefly halt the collapse, triggering the explosion.
more at link..................