If you live in the southern hemisphere, you now can safely view the aftermath of a nuclear explosion from the comfort of your own backyard.

Just last week a new “star”, Nova Centauri 2013, was discovered by Australian amateur astronomer John Seach. Nova Centauri 2013, is so bright, that it can now be seen with the unaided eye.

http://theconversation.com/up-in-the-sky-its-a-nuclear-explosion-21474

Party_Pants will be able to see it with the aided eye.

Peak Warming Man said:

Party_Pants will be able to see it with the aided eye.

There was an old Tasco telescope next to a whizbin at the waterfront yesterday.

It was the same as mine but had no lenses left on it

supernova aren’t nuclear explosions.

Well they do involve the explosion of the nucleus of a star…

does it? i thought that was the bit that got compressed with the shockwave.

Sorry, Skeppo, I tried to dig you out but that curmudgeon Chrispen “bah humbug” Evan was having none of it.

you could try importuning me with blandishments.

ChrispenEvan said:

does it? i thought that was the bit that got compressed with the shockwave.

where does the collapse occurr?

You’re bland enough

the core collapses due to the nuclear reaction running out of fuel, which acts against the force of gravity trying to collapse the core. there is a fine balance going on between these two forces for the life of the star. and most pulse slightly due to it. the core shrinks a little and gets more energetic. this results in the core expanding slightly and so reducing the pressure and thus the fusion process…

ChrispenEvan said:

the core collapses due to the nuclear reaction running out of fuel, which acts against the force of gravity trying to collapse the core. there is a fine balance going on between these two forces for the life of the star. and most pulse slightly due to it. the core shrinks a little and gets more energetic. this results in the core expanding slightly and so reducing the pressure and thus the fusion process…

Aye, it’s a positive feedback system

Skeptic Pete said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Party_Pants will be able to see it with the aided eye.

There was an old Tasco telescope next to a whizbin at the waterfront yesterday.

It was the same as mine but had no lenses left on it

so about the same magnifying power

what’s funny is that no one picked up that this isn’t a supernova but a nova which is a nuclear explosion.

:-)

Good catch.

Cheers, I intend getting up early in the next few days to have a look at Jupiter. So I’ll add this to the listing.

it’ll be just about opposite i think.

JudgeMental said:

what’s funny is that no one picked up that this isn’t a supernova but a nova which is a nuclear explosion.

:-)

http://www.viralnova.com/cement-factory/

ChrispenEvan said:

the core shrinks a little and gets more energetic. this results in the core expanding slightly and so reducing the pressure and thus the fusion process…

hmmm, compression and expansion working against each other… how does the shrinkage result in the expansion?

the shrinkage increases the pressure in the core increasing the nuclear fusion processes. ie the number of fusion events.

which makes the core expand cos it gets hotter and so expands. this makes it less dense and so the fusion events lessen….gravity then again shrinks the core….repeat.

JudgeMental said:

the shrinkage increases the pressure in the core increasing the nuclear fusion processes. ie the number of fusion events.

sorry was mentally comparing the event to the relatavistic cavitation that a BH represents. took a while to catch up…..