Astronomy Chapter 21 Vocab- "Stellar Explosions"

nova

a star that flares up very suddenly and then returns slowly to its former luminosity

supernova

a one-time event that is considered the enormous explosion of a star; is incredibly luminous and more than a million times as bright as a nova

carbon-detonated supernovae and the death of a high-mass star

the two different types of supernovae that are equally common

carbon-detonated supernova

a white dwarf that has accumulated too much mass from binary companion

remnants

the expanding clouds of material from the explosion

Crab nebula

a remnant from a supernova explosion that occurred in the year 1054

Supernova 1987A

a supernova explosion that occurred in the Large Magellan Cloud (a neighboring galaxy) in 1987; a cloud of gas is now visible around it, and a small central object is becoming discernible

Nickel-56

the last nucleus in the alpha-particle chain; is unstable and quickly decays

Iron-56

the most stable nucleus in the alpha-particle chain; neither fuses nor decays