Supernovae are events at the end of a stars life. They are a very violent explosion that is so bright that for a few months the supernova actually outshines the light from the rest of its host galaxy. A supernova occurs in a large galaxy about 5 times per century.

There are two two types:

Type 1: This is a star that has already stopped doing fusion. It is a white dwarf star, an ember slowly cooling until we can no longer see it. But it has a companion star. As this companion approaches the end of its life, it puffs up into a giant or supergiant. If it exceeds a certain size, and is close enough to the white dwarf star it will give some of its material (hydrogen and helium) to the white dwarf. If the white dwarf exceeds 1.44 times the mass of our sun it will explode as a Type 1 Superenova. This is also called a Carbon Detonation Supernova and is so violent that it will usually blow the star completely apart and there will not be a black hole or neutron star when it is done.
Type 2: This is a very large star; at least 8 times the mass of the sun. When it has begun making iron in its core it will run low on fuel and as fusion slows the star will collapse. When this happens the outer layers of the star's atmosphere will rebound off the collapsing core and explode as a Type 2 Supernova. For smaller stars, this results in a Neutron Star. For larger stars this will results in a Black Hole.

These pictures were taken by volunteer astronomers at the Insperity Observatory in Humble ISD.

HUMBLE

Photographs Taken at the Observatory

Special Pictures

Solar Pictures (Sun)

Lunar Pictures: The Moon

Mercury

Venus

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto

Ceres

Meteors

Comets

Asteroids

Open Star Clusters

Globular Star Clusters

Supernovae Remnants

Planetary Nebulae

Bright Nebulae

Dark Nebulae

Galaxies

Supernovae