Theme: Supernovas

 

(DESCRIPTION) 

Text, Viewspace. Coming up - See Supernovas Destroy and Create. A countdown clock counts down when the show will continue. The clocks starts at 15 seconds and ticks down to 0 seconds. Then the screen turns black. 

 

(SPEECH) 

[COSMIC MUSIC] 

(SPEECH)

[GENTLE MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

Stars in a dark sky.

 

Text, The Big Dipper

 

On August 22nd, 2011, the Pinwheel Galaxy looked like the familiar swirl of stars astronomers knew so well.

 

But the next day, it was different.

 

A bright spot had appeared in the outskirts of the galaxy.

 

It was a Supernova - a stellar explosion bursting with the light of 2.5 billion Suns.

 

It was the "youngest" supernova of its kind ever seen.

 

From our vantage point, the supernova was just hours old when are telescopes first spotted it

 

Observations by the Hubble Space Telescope and other telescopes around the world revealed what caused the explosion in the Pinwheel Galaxy.

 

The supernova probably occurred when two white dwarfs - cinders of dead sun-like stars - merged into one and then became explosively unstable.

 

The supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy was the closest of this type of supernova witnessed in nearly 40 years.

(SPEECH) 

 [DOWNBEAT MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Stars and red gases in space. A bright red sphere in the center. 

Text, SN 1987A SUPERNOVA. In 1987, astronomers spotted the brightest supernova seen on Earth in nearly four centuries. 

Soon after its launch in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope discovered three rings of gas and dust around the blast site that were ejected by the star before it exploded. 

The red sphere enlarges. There are distinct rings of red and pink dust. 

Since then, Hubble has watched the innermost ring light up, bit by bit, as a shock wave set off by the supernova slams into the ring. 

The star in the center of the ring darkens to purple. The ring turns progressively from orange to white in flashes. 

(SPEECH)

[FUTURISTIC MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

Text, At a glance. There's more than one way to destroy a star. A gray bar appears across the top of the screen. The left side of the bar contains the words massive star and the right side of the bar contains the words white dwarf.

 

(SPEECH)

[CALM MUSIC]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

A small, glowing dot appears in space and starts tp grow in size. The dot then explodes into a ball of light. Text, A supernova is the catastrophic destruction of a star.

 

But stellar disaster can come to pass in more ways than one. The side of the bar that contains the text massive star turns yellow. A yellow text box appears with the text, A star's life hangs in the balance of two opposing forces: the inward force of gravity versus the outward pressure created by the generation of nuclear energy in its core. A yellow circle contains a glowing core. Arrows point out from the core while arrows along the edge point toward the core.

 

Text, When a massive star runs out of nuclear fuel, gravity takes over, and the star's core collapses. The yellow circle fades into the darkness. Red and blue clouds radiate out from a glowing dot in space.

 

Text, The collapse triggers a powerful shock wave that rips through the rest of the star, blowing it to smithereens. The star's collapsed core remains, either as a dense ball of neutrons, or if the star was exceptionally massive, a black hole. A round sphere rotates as it glows brightly. Title, Neutron Star. The neutron star rotates as it travels through space. It gets smaller and smaller the further away it travels.

 

Text, But not all stellar explosions happen this way. The yellow text box moves to the left-hand side of the screen. The right side of the bar titled white dwarf turns yellow.

 

In another type of supernova, merged corpses of dead sun-like stars explode. A swirl of different color reds surround a white center. Two glowing balls of light rotate side by side in space.

 

Text, The pair of stellar zombies, called white dwarfs, orbit closer together until they merge to become a single, more massive white dwarf. The merger triggers a rapid and destructive chain of nuclear reactions. The two glowing balls of light begin to rotate closer and closer together.

 

Text, The new white dwarf explodes, completely annihilating itself. The balls of light continue to rotate closer and closer until they attach and begin to rotate together for a brief moment. A huge burst of light explodes from the collision of the balls of light.

 
(SPEECH)

[MUSIC PLAYING]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

Bright teal lines separate the screen in half. Text. Myth versus Reality. Above the Myth side is a constellation map with a horned bull. On the Reality side is a bright, bursting light.

 

Myth. All stars end their lives in supernova explosions.

 

Reality. Relatively few stars end their lives as supernovae. Stars that are many times more massive than the Sun explode as supernovae. But stars like the Sun, which are much more common, can end their lives quietly by gently puffing away their outer layers.

(SPEECH) 

[ORCHESTRAL MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 A transparent ball of red gas floats in space among a backdrop of stars. 

Text, SNR 0509. SUPERNOVA REMNANT. This delicate celestial bubble is the result of a violent stellar explosion that took place in a nearby galaxy. 

The gaseous shell is 23 light-years across and is expanding at more than 11 million miles per hour. 

The supernova that produced this glowing shell of gas might have been triggered by the collision of two stellar relics called white dwarfs. 

(SPEECH) 

 [SCIFI MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Text, a star's demise. A bright ball glows against a dark sky, then explodes. 

Text, China, year 1054. 

Stars dot a black background and move through the sky. 

Text, In the year 1054, astronomers in China and around the world saw a new star appear. It was brilliant. At night, it was brighter than any other star in the sky. 

The background changes from black to blue, and a bright white dot sits in the center. 

Text, In the daytime, it was so bright that it could be seen for weeks. 

A Chinese building and landscape appear at the bottom of the screen. 

Text, Gradually, the new star faded. Yet it continued to shine for more than a year before disappearing completely from view. 

The star slowly fades until it can no longer be seen. 

A dark sky appears. Bright stars shine in the darkness. 

Text, Centuries later, astronomers discovered a cloud of gas - a "nebula" - where the stellar beacon had been seen. 

A wispy cloud-like image appears in the dark sky. 

Text, They realized that the "new" star of 1054 hadn't actually been a new star at all. 

Instead, it was the explosive death of an old star, a supernova. 

A glowing ball of light grows brighter and explodes. 

Text, Roughly 6,500 light-years away, a star many times more massive than our Sun ran out of its nuclear fuel, became unstable, and exploded. 

The background changes from white to shades of pink, then to purples, then blues. The center remains bright white. 

Text, The supernova burst with the light of about 400 million suns. 

Colorful lights expand out of the bright white light. 

Text, The blast sprayed most of the star's "guts" outward, forming a gaseous nebula that has been expanding ever since. 

The sky grows darker as the light continues to grow outward. 

Text, Nearly a thousand years after the explosion was seen on Earth, the Hubble Space telescope captured this image of the stellar wreckage. 

In a sketch made by an astronomer in the mid-1800s, the supernova remnant resembled a crab. 

So today, we call it the "Crab Nebula." 

Colorful cloud and web-like patterns form a irregular shape. 

Text, At the heart of the Crab Nebula sit the remains of the deceased star's core. 

A globe of blue and white spins against a colorful background. 

Text, It is a dense, spinning ball of neutrons, a "neutron star." 

The neutron star continues to spin against a brilliant background. 

Text, The Crab Nebula's neutron star spins 30 times per second. 

Beams of light on opposite ends of the neutron star spin. 

Each time it spins, it sweeps a lighthouse-like beam of radiation past Earth, making it look as if the neutron star is pulsing rapidly. 

As the neutron star spins, the beams of light change direction, and grow brighter at times. 

Text, Because of this, we call it a "pulsar." 

The nebula appears as a purple, yellow, and red cloudlike mass. 

Text, As it spins, the pulsar affects material in the surrounding nebula. 

The nebula slowly spins. 

Text, Images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory show changes around the pulsar happening over just a few days. 

Side-by side images display the differences, The left one is labeled "Hubble Space Telescope," and the right one is labeled "Chandra." 

Text, Material flows away from the pulsar in a set of rings around it and in a pair of jets shooting from the pulsar's poles. 

The image on the left shows a large red cloudlike mass. The one on the right is blue and smaller. Both have white centers. 

Text, Visible, infrared, and X-ray composite. 

The pulsar will gradually slow down though, and its pulses will weaken. 

The camera zooms out on the Crab Nebula. 

Text, The Crab Nebula will continue to expand and will eventually fade away. 

The nebula has a purple center and a red mass around it. 

Text, But the elements it contains, spewed out by its exploded star, provide the resources from which future generations of stars could one day form. 

Yellow and green wispy trails intertwine with the other colors. 

(SPEECH) 

 [SCIFI MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
Text, N49 Supernova Remnant. A swirl of orange, yellow, and purple colors in space surrounded by stars. These stringy filaments are the ruins of a massive star that blew up in a small, nearby galaxy. 

Text, This gaseous material will eventually be recycled and become part of a new generation of stars. 

The demolition site also harbors a spinning neutron star that could be the dense core of the exploded star that created this nebula. 

(SPEECH) 

 [ELECTRONIC MUSIC] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Top left, a black and white picture of a minotaur. Top right, a color picture of a supernova. 

Text, MYTH versus REALITY 

Myth side 

Text, All supernovae are the same. 

Reality side 

Text, There are different kinds of supernovae. Some supernovae happen when massive stars run out of nuclear fuel. Others occur when stellar relics called white dwarfs pull material from a companion star, become unstable, and explode. Supernovae can also happen when stars collide. 

(SPEECH) 

 [MUSIC PLAYING] 

(DESCRIPTION) 
 Text, Eta Carinae 

Roughly 8,000 light-years from Earth, a star known as Eta Carinae is on the brink of destruction. 

Eta Carinae is unstable and prone to violent outbursts. 

The temperamental star sits hidden at the center of two billowing lobes of dust and gas, which it blew out during an eruption witnessed in the 19th century. 

Among the most massive stars known, Eta Carinae might actually be two massive stars orbiting tightly around one another. 

Astronomers expect one or both stars to blow up as a titanic supernova before too long. 

In fact, an explosion might have already happened, but we won't receive news of the blast until its light reaches us 8,000 years later. 

(SPEECH)

[MUSIC PLAYING]

 

(DESCRIPTION)

Bright teal lines separate the screen in half. Title. Myth versus Reality. Above the Myth side is a constellation map with a horned bull. On the Reality side is a bright bursting light.

 

Text. Myth. Supernovae pose a threat to life on Earth.

 

Reality. Most supernovae are far too far from the Earth to have any effect on us. If a star should explode relatively close to us, closer than roughly 100 light-years away, it could damage Earth's ozone layer and shower us with X-rays, gamma rays, and energetic particles. Fortunately, there is no star within 100 light-years that is likely to explode any time soon.