When massive stars ten times heavier than our sun die, gravity crushes them creating a huge explosion. A supernova. But some stars are even bigger than that. These supermassive stars weigh one hundred times more than our sun, and have one hundred times our gravity. When one of these stars dies it sets off the biggest explosion in the universe: a hypernova. And this is the birth of a black hole. How the Universe Works s1e2: Black Holes, Discovery 2010
Black holes are born from dying stars. And most are small. And thirty kilometres across. But now scientists have discovered some black holes are much bigger: they’re called supermassive black holes. They’re the same size as our entire solar system. And one of these monsters lies at the heart of our own galaxy. ibid.
Everything in our galaxy including our own solar system orbits around a supermassive black hole. But the Milky Way is not the only galaxy with a black hole at its centre. There are supermassive black holes at the heart of most galaxies in the universe. The Andromeda Galaxy is our closest neighbour. It circles a supermassive black hole weighing one hundred and forty times more than our sun. ibid.
Iron absorbs energy. From the moment a massive star creates iron it only has seconds to live ... In a few seconds supernovas create more energy than our sun ever will. How the Universe Works s1e4: Stars
This is an exploding star. It’s called a supernova. Supernovas come in different sizes and types, all of them are so bright they can be seen across the universe. But this violent destruction of a star is also the birth of everything we see around us. How the Universe Works s1e5: Supernovas
Really big stars die with a violent explosion called a supernova. They’re so violent if one of them exploded a few dozen light years away, planet Earth would be scorched. ibid.
Our sun won’t become a supernova: it’s too small. ibid.
Supernovas make everything in the universe ... It’s all made of iron from Type 1A supernovas. But the heavier elements in our world – like gold, silver and uranium – come from another type of supernova, a single-star supernova. ibid.
Sometimes there’s a corpse. The type of corpse depends on the size of a star. Supernovas from stars more than eight times bigger than our sun leave behind a neutron star. And it’s one of the strangest objects in the universe. ibid.
Scientists used to think the expanding universe was slowing down but they couldn’t prove it. Until they found double-star supernovas. Type 1As. They always explode when a white dwarf star reaches exactly 1.4 times the mass of our sun. And their explosions always release exactly the same amount of light. They are the perfect markers to measure distance in space ... But instead they got a huge surprise. ibid.
They were super powerful explosions of high energy radiation called gamma ray bursts. And they were coming from exploding hypernovas. ibid.
They are the brightest thing in the known universe. ibid.
The Earth formed through a series of devastating catastrophes. An apocalyptic planetary collision. Millions of cosmic impacts. And one of the most powerful blasts in the universe – a supernova. Yet these cataclysms created the planet we know today. Could other planets have formed the same way? How the Universe Works s2e8: Birth of the Earth
The explosion called a supernova is one of the brightest and most violent events in the universe … ‘with heavier elements in them.’ How the Universe Works s4e1: How the Universe Built Your Car
Even if a supernova happened thirty light years from us – that’s more than 150 trillion kilometers – we’d be in trouble. The shockwave would probably destroy our atmosphere leading to mass extinctions. How the Universe Works s5e6: The Universe’s Deadliest
Even after it’s gone supernova it would be a place best to avoid. Because after it dies what’s left is one of the most extreme objects in the universe – a neutron star. Trillions and trillions of tons of matter are compressed into a sphere that’s just tens of kilometers in diameter. Because the neutron star is so dense it generates an intense gravitational field. ibid.
But what about two neutron stars colliding? Creating one of the strangest and most lethal particles in the universe … releasing a huge surge of energy that was emitted across space … It’s possible that neutron star collisions release something that is incredibly weird – a new theoretical particle called a Strangelet. ibid.
Supernovas: gigantic explosions that light up the cosmos. Inside the star’s core temperatures and pressures are immense. A ticking tomb-bomb that explodes with indescribable energy. How the Universe Works s7e2: Supernovas
Giant factories fusing heavier elements into heavier ones. But the hard work doesn’t start till their final years. ibid.
The breakout is a giant star’s death-rattle. ibid.
White dwarfs can explode in violent supernovas … They might also create the most magnetic and terrifying beast in the universe – a magnetar. How the Universe Works s9e7: Curse of the White Dwarf
There’s a killer lurking in our galaxy. A star ready to explode into a supernova. Seen from Earth it would have a terrible beauty but for us it could be fatal. We’re trying to hunt it down. How the Universe Works s9e8: The Next Supernova
Our world, our solar system, our universe: none of it would exist without a ghostly particle called the Neutrino. They are our early warning system. Neutrinos trigger star-killing explosions: supernovae. These tiny particles saved the infant universe from destruction. Neutrinos are the key to how the universe works. How the Universe Works s9e9: Secret Lives of Neutrinos
How many people change?
How many lives are living strange?
Where were you while we were getting high?
People believe that they’re gonna get away for the summer
But you and I
We live and die
The world still spins around we don’t know why.
Someday you will find me, caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky. Oasis, Champagne Supernova