SN 2007bi was an extremely energetic

supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

discovered early in 2007 by the international

Nearby Supernova Factory The Nearby Supernova Factory (SNfactory) is a collaborative experiment led by Greg Aldering, designed to collect data on more Type Ia supernovae than have ever been studied in a single project before, and by studying them, to increase understandin ...

based at the U.S. Department of Energy's

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL, Berkeley Lab) is a Federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in the Berkeley Hills, hills of Berkeley, California, United States. Established i ...

. The precursor star is estimated to have had 200 solar masses at the time of its formation and around 100 solar masses in its core when it went supernova. The explosion ejected more than 22 solar masses of

silicon Silicon is a chemical element; it has symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic lustre, and is a tetravalent metalloid (sometimes considered a non-metal) and semiconductor. It is a membe ...

and other heavy elements into space during this supernova including more than 6 solar masses of radioactive

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

which caused the expanding gases to glow very brightly for many months. The supernova has been described as an unambiguous fit for the

pair-instability supernova A pair-instability supernova is a type of supernova predicted to occur when pair production, the production of free electrons and positrons in the collision between atomic nuclei and energetic gamma rays, temporarily reduces the internal radiatio ...

model.

References

SIMBAD data

External links

Light curves and spectra
on th
Open Supernova Catalog
* New Scientist

* Science Daily

* Keck Observatory
"First of its kind superbright supernova"
* Nature
"Full report submitted by scientists to the journal Nature"
* Weizmann Institute

Supernovae 20070406 Virgo (constellation) {{var-star-stub

References

Further reading

External links