Hypernova Rising Educational Supplemental Material

Hypernova Rising Educational Supplemental Material
Facts Just For Kids - 11 Hypernova Facts for Kids
1. A hypernova is very luminous and massive stellar explosion that can produce long gammaray
bursts (GRBs).
2. A hypernova is sometimes called a collapsar, which refers to the collapsar model for a
hypernova.
3. A hypernova is also called a super luminous supernova.
4. Bohdan Paczynski of Princeton University first proposed that hypernovas could produce
long gamma-ray bursts in 1998.
5. A hypernova is conceivable the most power explosive events in our universe, only beaten by
the Big Bang.
6. A hypernova is believed to release 5 to 100 times more energy than a supernova.
7. It’s unknown if all hypernovas produce long gamma-ray bursts. There have been several
hypernovas that didn’t have an associated long gamma-ray burst.
8. The first gamma-ray burst potentially from a hypernova was detected on July 2nd, 1967, by
group of United States Military satellites called Vela. They were designed to detect nuclear
weapon tests.
9. The first gamma-ray burst to believe to be caused by a hypernova was GRB 970508. It was
detected by the Dutch-Italian satellite BeppoSAX in February 1997.
10. The first gamma-ray burst to be linked with a supernova was GRB 980425, and it was
linked to a type Ic supernova SN 1998bw.
11. Some scientist’s hypothesis the Ordovician-Silurian extinction events could have been
caused by a gamma-ray burst from a hypernova that was within 6,000 light-years of the
planet Earth.
Click on the following Astronomy Photos of the Day links to learn more about Hypernovas!
(Used with permission)
Candidates for a Hypernova
A Slow Explosion
Dusty Visions of a Massive Star (Eta Carinae)

Stellar Evolution Tracks (Pablo Carlos Budassi – creator)