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Supernovae: The Ultimate Instability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

Robert P. Kirshner
Robert P. Kirshner*
Affiliation:
Department of Astronomy, University of MichiganAnn Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

Extract

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Observed properties of supernovae and of very young supernova remnants provide important clues to answer the question, “which stars become supernovae?” There are three general lines of evidence (l) the statistics of supernovae, (2) the physical state of supernovae near maximum light, and (3) the chemistry of young supernova remnants. These lines of evidence appear to be converging on the view that all the supernova explosions we see, whether Type I or Type II, arise from the destruction of young massive stars.

It is important to note that supernovae fall into two distinct spectroscopic classes: Type I which does not show strong hydrogen lines, and Type II in which hydrogen emission and absorption is prominent (Oke and Searle, 1974). It is possible that the stellar progenitors of these two types are very different, but recent evidence suggests that the similarities in the properties of the two classes are more important.

Type
Joint Discussion
Information
Highlights of Astronomy , Volume 5: Highlights of Astronomy. As presented at the XVIIth General Assembly of the IAU, 1979 , 1980 , pp. 513 - 515
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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