Chapter 20: Problem 28
How can a supernova continue to shine for many years after it explodes?
Chapter 20: Problem 28
How can a supernova continue to shine for many years after it explodes?
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Get started for freeImagine that our Sun was somehow replaced by a \(1-\mathrm{M}_{\odot}\) white dwarf star, and that our Earth continued in an orbit of semimajor axis \(1 \mathrm{AU}\) around this star. Discuss what effects this would have on our planet. What would the white dwarf look like as seen from Earth? Could you look at it safely with the unaided eye? Would the Earth's surface temperature remain the same as it is now?
How do supernova remnants produce radiation at nonvisible wavelengths?
What is the horizontal branch? Where is it located on an H-R diagram? How do stars on the horizontal branch differ from red giants or main-sequence stars?
Search the World Wide Web for information about SN 1994I, a supernova that occurred in the galaxy M.51 (NGC 5194). Why was this supernova unusual? Was it bright enough to have been seen by amateur astronomers?
It has been claimed that the Dogon tribe in western Africa has known for thousands of years that Sirius is a binary star. Search the World Wide Web for information about these claims. What is the basis of these claims? Why are scientists skeptical, and how do they refute these claims?
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