Astronomers glimpse supernova shockwave »

Astronomers have captured the earliest minutes of two exploding stars and for the first time seen a shockwave generated by a star's collapsing core. The international team found a shockwave only in the smaller supernova, a finding that will help them understand these complex explosions that create many of the elements that make up humans, the Earth and the Solar System. "It's like the shockwave from a nuclear bomb, only much bigger, and no one gets hurt," said Dr Brad Tucker, from ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. Stars explode when their fuel runs down and the core collapses. The resulting supernova explosion is brighter than the rest of its galaxy and shines for some weeks. Supernovae are so bright that they can be seen in distant galaxies, which has helped astronomers learn much about the large-scale structure of the universe. However, very little is known about the early stages of these explosions.