On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
An ultrapowerful supernova discovered in 2006 may blow its top again. Burning 100 times brighter than a typical supernova, SN 2006gy maintained full strength for an amazing three months. To explain the massive outburst, researchers invoked a mechanism called pair instability, in which high-energy gamma rays inside the star convert into pairs of electrons and positrons, draining stellar energy that would normally help maintain its internal pressure. That sapping leads to a premature collapse, liberating vast amounts of energy and light. Astrophysicists now report that SN 2006gy's brightness changes fit a model of pulsating pair instability. In this scenario, the initial implosion of a 110-solar-mass star would shed several suns' worth of mass before igniting the star's carbon and oxygen fuel, temporarily halting the collapse. Roughly seven years later pair instability would cause a second breakdown that would emit a smaller but faster pulse of material. The study appears in the November 15, 2007, Nature.
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
