Why do Supernovae Matter?
Supernovae are the
reason that we exist. In the early universe there
was only hydrogen and helium that formed stars.
Stars are powered by nuclear fusion, creating
heavier elements as their life goes on, creating
lithium, iron, and everything in between. When the
stars burst into supernovae, they launch all of
these new elements in to space, and are able to form
the planets that are so abundant today.
One of the important reasons that aren't as
obviously connected to us, is Type I supernovae offer
one of the only opportunities to measure distances
around 1000 Mpc (1 Megaparsec is roughly 3.26*10^6
lightyears), while also having an uncertainty of
only about 5% over these large distances.
Being able to measure this kind of distance has
given astrophysicists the ability to conclude that
the expansion of the universe is actually
accelerating.
|