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Now featuring the incomparable visualizations of ADOLF SCHALLER ! |
Supernovae, Pulsars, and Catastrophic Variables |
| (Yes - Even at this date we are STILL UNDER DEVELOPMENT !) | |
| - - T A B L E - O F - C O N T E N T S - - |
- Stellar
Evolution - |
Over the last two decades, mankind has seen a factorial growth in our capability to "see" what is going on in our universe. Thanks largely in part to orbiting astronomical platforms such as HEAO, BATSE, HST, BeppoSAX, XRTE, ASCA, CGRO, and now the Chandra X-Ray observatory, we can see further and with much greater resolution than ever before. It is, in retrospect, a sad commentary on the political and social environment of the 1960s and 1970s that these indispensable observatories were not in place sooner. It is hoped by many that the latest continuum of politicians will see and understand what maintaining a presence in space has meant - and will continue to mean - to us all. This paper covers some of the most exciting events in astronomy that man has ever observed. Although discovered by spy sattelites in the 1960s, Gamma Ray Bursts from without our galaxy have enthralled astrophysicists worldwide. Not to be outdone, Novae and Supernovae have also been acting up. We have seen type-I supernovae that act like type-II, and vice-versa. The Pistol Star Supernova has recently been imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope, among others, and it was discovered that it emitted energy equal to the total output of the known universe. Confirmation of the existence of Black Holes of sizes that are thought to range from the microscopic to the supermassive, Cannabalistic Neutron Stars, Binary Pulsars, Magnetars, Collapsars - all discoveries made within the last twenty years, thanks to the aforementioned space-based astronomical platforms. Although broad in scope, it is the purpose of this document to cover as many known stellar events as possible, and the principal theories concerning their evolution. This means it WILL be lengthy, but never boring. There is quite a bit of material included in this treatise - information about some of the most fascinating occurrences of any millenium. Photographs of stars on the edge - of birth, life, and death. What comes after the death of a star ? Does it just fade away, never to be seen again, or is there a chance of reincarnation ? The metaphorical meaning of this information will cause secular and religious members of our race to stop and think of what the answer to that question means to them, personally, for a long time. The real meaning of the answer will keep astronomers and astrophysicists studying and writing the results of that studying for a much longer period. These are, indeed, "interesting times." When we discuss reverse shock waves rebounding into the iron core of a giant type-O star - then compressing that iron to the point that electron pressure is no longer sufficient to hold protons, neutrons, and electrons apart, the author hopes that the reader can envision a huge blue star with a bright outer shell of gas and detrius wavering before their eyes, at once bright with emissions of every wavelength, then dimming and disappearing before their very eyes. When I speak of a pair of stars in a cannibalistic orbit around each other, I hope to convey the symbolic correlary between nature as it occurs on earth, and the nature of the universe - and the knowledge that this phenomena is necessary for our universe to continue. The real wonders of the universe will be discussed here, and the author plans to convey the awesome and majestic nature of these events to the reader - along with a great deal of knowledge about the evolution of these phenomena...mankind didn't first look up because s/he had an advanced optical device sitting in front of them - s/he looked up because it was beautiful. Although technical, this is astronomy as it was in the beginning, and as it always will be, driven by the most curious of creatures - us.
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| Images
and Photos Courtesy NASA / HST / UFP / ESO |
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| "We
choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in
this decade and do the other things, not because they are
easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will
serve to organize and measure the best of our energies
and skills, because that challenge is the one that we are
willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and
one which we intended to win, and the others, too."
John F. Kennedy - said this in a speech to all Americans just after John Glenn returned from the first ORBITAL flight of an American spacecraft and pilot. |
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