SAASST News

Sunday, 21 February 2021 01:11

Novae & Supernovae

As part of its program to enhance astronomy education, the Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology organized a lecture on “Novae & Supernovae” on Feb. 10, 2021. The lecture was given by Ms. Fatima Al-Khateri, a planetarium guide at the SAASST Planetarium. Ms. Fatima presented the theory behind each of these two objects regarding the formation and differences between the two. Novae can only happen if you have a

binary star system and one of the two stars is a white dwarf. This is usually referred to as Supernova Type I. Very massive stars, when they reached the final stellar phase, explode and become a supernova, usually referred to as Supernova Type II. There is a big difference between the two types, as Ms. Fatima explained. A type 1 can be a soft explosion where the brightness can vary by more than 10,000 fold. On the other hand, a type 2 is extremely violent. It can outshine the entire galaxy.

 

The online workshop was attended by many students, faculty members, and the general public. This special lecture can be checked online through the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-1YnpETm5ohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-1YnpETm5o