Spaced

Crazy me had a dream about the Sun going suprenova! But, of course, the Sun is too small to go supernova, you all tell me. Yes, but I'm crazy ^_^

I was wandering the streets at night, and I see a small flash. Then another, much brighter flash. And another brighter flash. I close my eyes, but the final flash is so bright, I can see it through closed eyes!

But, of course, somehow, everything is fine that next day, after I wake up (in my dream-self of course!) and the dream continues on some random tangent, as all dreams do. You could argue "Silly DisaFear, it wasn't a supernova then, it was just some satellite asploding in the atmosphere!" but in a dream, you usually know what's going on, even if you don't know why, and I somehow knew it was a supernova!

Anyways.

A supernova, if you are wondering, is the explosion a massive star, a star that is probably 8 times or more massive than the Sun. (the line is very fine between intermediate mass stars and high mass stars)

Why does it explode?

As fusion proceeds in the star, iron accumulates in the core of the star. Iron cannot provide fusion energy. So it accumulates. And accumulates. And accumulates.

And then, suddenly, the degeneracy pressure in the core can't support it! Core collapses! Boom! Explosion occurs, leaving behind a neutron star

Something like this?

Supernova by karimfakhoury is a perfect artists example of a supernova. Explosion, check. Awesome lighting and colours, check. Chaotic, check! Debris, check. Random man getting owned, check! The amount of detail in that piece is magnificent, there's so much to take in.

But...a neutron star is not always how it ends...there is a much more evil force in the Universe...

*enter stage left, black hole*

If that extremely-extremely-dense neutron star accumulates some more mass, then the neutron degeneracy pressure can't hold it! It collapses, collapses, collapses, collapses, into a thing whose gravity is so strong that not even light can escape it!

Black Heart, Black hole by shadeforfiend shows one of those evil creatures in action. I really love the colour range on that accretion disk. Hey, black holes can be cute too :3

Until next time! Don't fall into a black hole, however interesting they are!