Abstract
We now turn our attention to high-mass stars. As you have probably surmised by now, the death throes of these stars are very different, and spectacular, compared with those of low-mass stars.
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Notes
- 1.
Some helium nuclei do remain in the star’s core, but these are not in sufficient number to initiate helium burning to any great degree.
- 2.
The entire energy-producing region in the star is now in a volume about the same size as Earth, one million times smaller in radius than the size of the star.
- 3.
Don’t think that astronomers know all there is to know about what gives rise to a supernova. Prior to the famous supernova in 1987 (“SN 1987A”), astronomers believed that only red supergiants could form supernova. They were thrown into some confusion when it was discovered that the progenitor star of SN1987 was a blue supergiant!
- 4.
Those with a * against them are recent additions to the classification system, showing subtle spectroscopic differences to the “mainstream” types. Type IIa begin with spectra similar to Type Ia, and then progress to Type II spectra. Type IIn have narrow emission lines not seen in the archetypical Type II. Types II-L have no plateau in their light curve, and Type II-P are the “typical” Type II supernovae. To further complicate matters, there are the very recent additions to the list, namely the super-luminous supernovae, or SLSN, along with its subdivisions of SLSN-1, SLSN-II and SLSN-R.
- 5.
The subject of binary stars, Roche lobes, and other assorted ephemera could fill a book in itself! Any interested readers will find references to books on such topics in the appendices of this book.
- 6.
As there is no core collapse in a Type I supernova, there will be no neutrinos emitted.
- 7.
No doubt I shall soon be corrected on this point, when an amateur images the Crab Nebula pulsar. It is only a matter of time!
- 8.
In 1783, the British astronomer Rev. John Mitchell realized that using Newton’s laws of gravity, a situation could occur whereby an object 500 times the radius of the Sun but with the same density would have an escape velocity greater than the speed of light! Although he didn’t know it, he was talking about a black hole.
- 9.
Rotating black holes are not spherical but have an oblate shape. Their description however is far more complicated and so only the simple, non-rotating black hole is covered here.
- 10.
In some cases, a supernova remnant that does not have a central pulsar or neutron star may have a black hole at its center.
- 11.
There are some relativists who propose that in an unimaginably distant future, black holes could “evaporate.” We will long be gone for this issue to worry us.
- 12.
That is, if we ignore the immense amount of radiation being formed around a black hole and the debris from stars that have been literally torn apart.
- 13.
We discuss these in the chapter on active galaxies.
- 14.
Sagittarius A* is now believed to be made of two components; SgrA East and SgrA West. The former is a supernova remnant, and the latter is an ultra-compact, non-thermal source, i.e., a black hole.
- 15.
Recent analysis suggests that the density around the center of the galaxy is about a million times greater than any known star cluster. It is probably made up of living stars, dead stars, gas and dust, and of course a black hole.
- 16.
To get a sense of scale, consider that Mercury is 46 million km from the Sun at perihelion.
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Inglis, M. (2015). Star Death: Supernovae, Neutron Stars & Black Holes. In: Astrophysics Is Easy!. The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11644-0_12
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