Picture yourself lying in your backyard on a warm June evening and all of a sudden, a bright flash begins to show up in the sky! No doubt it is an explosion of some kind and your hope is that it is nothing where any lives were lost. On the contrary, it is where life begins as you have just witnessed a supernova explosion! 

So What Exactly is a Supernova?

A supernova, also called supernovea, represents the explosion of a star after it has exhausted all of its energy.  This loss of energy occurs when the star is no able to longer withstand the force of its gravity, thereby causing the star’s core to collapse and subsequently, unleashing an extraordinary burst of energy.

This explosion is a powerful stellar explosion that occurs at the end of a star’s life cycle and is one of the most dramatic events in the universe. Its explosion is so powerful that it outshines entire galaxies, at least for a short time.

According to NASA, a supernova is the largest known explosion in space. The last recorded supernova in the Milky Way occurred in 1604, known as Kepler’s Supernova, and remained visible to the naked eye for an astounding 18 months.

The Seeds of Life

At the time of a supernova explosion, the energy that is released is so extraordinary that, for a short time period, the star will outshine entire galaxies, which is equivalent to a combination of billions of stars combined into one.

This outburst is not just that of light, rather it contains elements like carbon, iron, calcium, and gold, which are the seeds of life via the creation of new planets and stars, called stellar nurseries or nebulas as the term used mostly when referring to the beginning of life in the universe.