Stars: Life Cycles, Bangs, and Supernovas - Essay Sample

Introduction

Stars have been discovered to have a life cycle, just like all other living things (Thomas, 2018). Researchers can tell how old a star is by directly measuring the speed that it moves through space. When various stars reach their life cycles, they may, at times, go out with a bang (Ellis & Schramm, 1995). Most importantly, the bang is always a powerful explosion that results in the release of large amounts of energy. These explosions are referred to as the supernova. It is worth noting that the light given off during the explosion can always be brighter than even the light emitted by the whole galaxy (Wallner et al., 2016).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The supernova can always be seen as extremely bright stars that can be seen several days and months by naked eyes after it begins. The supernova mechanism of mass extinction has attracted limited research attention, maybe because the galaxy has not witnessed any supernova explosions in the recent past to concentrate the minds (Ellis & Schramm, 1995). Among other possible causes for the biological mass extinctions, astrophysical mechanisms have always been immensely cited. This paper shall present a detailed report of the supernova and the role it has on life extinction.

The Star, Supernova and the Neuron stars

The Star

It is believed that a star begins its life from gas and clouds of dust known as the nebula. The gas, in this case, is mainly hydrogen (Thomas, 2018). When the gas and the cloud of dust clump together during accretion, a protostar is formed. The pressure, density, and temperature of the protostar increases as gravity continues to pull the matter inwards towards the core ("NASA Astrobiology," 2020). A star is formed from the nuclear fusion that results when a critical temperature is reached within the protostar. However, failure to reach the critical temperature results in the formation of a dead star or the brown dwarf star.

In essence, through nuclear fusion, hydrogen within the protostar is converted into a helium atom with a weight, which is 99.3% composed of the neutrons and the protons that would make it. However, the remaining 0.7% of this is released in the form of light and heat energy (Ellis & Schramm, 1995).

Most significantly, the 0.7% coefficient which shows the degree to which the strong nuclear force can overcome the strong repulsive forces is highly essential in the determination of the life-cycle of any star as well as the development of the large numbers of the atoms that are observed in the universe (Wallner et al., 2016).

It is also essential to note that when the star becomes 4.5-5 billion years old, the hydrogen fuel diminishes, and the sequence for star development comes to an end, and the star cools down and finally falls due to gravity ("NASA Astrobiology," 2020). However, when the star collapses, the core is heated up, and the burning helium is likely to result in a massive expansion of the outer layers to form a red giant star.

Supernova

Supernova is the cataclysmic explosion that is orchestrated by the collapse of the old massive stars, which has consumed all its fuel ("NASA Astrobiology," 2020). Research indicates that for some time, the explosion can outshine millions of ordinary galaxy stars. Again, the explosion leaves behind the nebula, which is a cloud of brightly colored gas (Thomas, 2018). In some instances, the explosion could also leave behind a highly condensed neutron star or, in some cases, a black hole.

Neuron Stars

On the other hand, neutron stars are the stars that have shrunk under their gravities during the supernova event. As a result, the contents of such stars have been compressed into neurons alone i.e., and the explosion causes merging of the electrons and the protons leaving behind only neurons (Thomas, 2018). The neurons stars can rotate at high speed mainly because they still retain their initial angular momentum.

Remnant Supernova

Research has indicated that through the ionizing radiation of the supernovae, it could sterilize any nearby inhabited planets. For instance, NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveals that the remnants of the supernova speed up the cosmic rays to amazingly high speeds ("NASA Astrobiology," 2020). Various scientists have presented several data to show the W44 and the Jellyfish Nebula supernova captured by the Fermi Telescope.

Scientific discovery also indicates that charged particles within the remnant supernova can continue to gain more speed up to a point at which they gain more speed to escape the remnant's magnetic fields. When the charged particles escape from the remnant supernova, they move at a faster speed and are called cosmic rays.

In 1949, Enrico Fermi suggested that the cosmic rays moving at high speed could be accelerated in the interstellar gas clouds' magnetic fields ("NASA Astrobiology," 2020). From then, several researchers have advanced that the supernova remnants could have attributed to the process. Several researchers have noted that the mass- killing of dinosaurs could have been caused by an exceedingly large object-possibly the supernova.

It is believed the object was the first had had such an impact in the previous 4 billion years. Similar biological mass extinctions are believed to have occurred within the last 600 million years. Among other possible causes for the biological mass extinctions, astrophysical mechanisms have always been immensely cited ("NASA Astrobiology," 2020).

History Supernova and Life Extinction

It is believed that life on Earth has undergone five significant extinctions known as the 'Big Five' as well as some series of lesser extinctions since the murky pre-Cambrian periods (Ellis & Schramm, 1995). Several pieces of research have been done, particularly within the last decade, to determine the root causes of the extinctions witnessed on Earth (Wallner et al., 2016). Several theories have been put forward to explain the astrophysical and terrestrial events as well as their relationships with extinction.

One of the great extinction is ever known is the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs by the end of the Cretaceous period (Wallner et al., 2016). Meteorites have been noted (by several researchers) to have had a contribution to such mass extinctions. However, the record-holding Permian extinction is believed to have been caused by volcanic episodes that resulted in the creation of the Siberian traps.

Recent researchers have argued that the mass- killing of dinosaurs could have been caused by an exceedingly large object (Thomas, 2018). It is believed the object was the first had had such an impact in the previous 4 billion years. Similar biological mass extinctions are believed to have occurred within the last 600 million years (Ellis & Schramm, 1995). Among other possible causes for the biological mass extinctions, astrophysical mechanisms have always been immensely cited.

Research indicates that for some time, the explosion can outshine millions of ordinary galaxy stars (Wallner et al., 2016). The supernova mechanism of mass extinction has attracted limited research attention, maybe because the galaxy has not witnessed any supernova explosions in the recent past to concentrate the minds (Ellis & Schramm, 1995). Astrophysical mechanisms have always been immensely cited for causing mass extinctions (Wallner et al., 2016).

Some of the essential astrophysical mechanisms that have been cited for having had a hand in mass extinction are the variations in the solar constant, comet or meteorite impacts that are likely to have occurred from perturbations of the Oort cloud as well as the supernova explosions ("NASA Astrobiology," 2020). However, little experimental support exists to support mass extinctions as a result of the variation in the solar constant.

Again, the supernova mechanism of mass extinction has attracted limited research attention, maybe because the galaxy has not witnessed any supernova explosions in the recent past to concentrate the minds ("NASA Astrobiology," 2020). It could also be because various researchers have not acknowledged the lethality of the supernova explosions. Slow rates of occurrences of the supernova explosions may have also caused various researchers to believe that it may not have contributed to the mass extinctions.

The supernova explosion, for instance, is believed to have destroyed the Earth's ozone layer over 300 years ago, which in turn could have had detrimental effects on the phytoplankton as well as other marine life forms (Ellis & Schramm, 1995). Since most of the reef communities also depend on the photosynthesizing organisms, the explosion could also have had severe damage to them.

Role of the Supernova Explosion on Species Extinction

The extinction of a species could either be due to direct killing (such as radiation overdose and sunburn) or through various indirect mechanisms such as global warming, environmental changes, as well as the destruction of the species food supply (Crutzen & Bruhl, 1996). It is believed that a nearby supernova explosion could directly affect various species through destroying the ozone layer, thus permitting the incoming solar ultraviolet rays on to the surface of the Earth.

Supernova explosions can sterilize any planet that is nearby due to the harmful ionizing radiation that they produce (Wallner et al., 2016). The ozone layer protects all the life forms on Earth, thus when the supernova explosions destroy it, the harsh ultraviolet rays reach the Earth and results in the death of various life forms and their subsequent extinction (Ellis & Schramm, 1995).

A nearby supernova explosion may have had detrimental effects on various lifeforms on Earth (Wallner et al., 2016). They may have been responsible for the mass extinctions ever recorded in the paleoclimatic, paleontologic, as well as the geological record of the Earth. Studies also indicate that the radiations from distant supernova explosions may result in mutations in huge animals (Crutzen & Bruhl, 1996).

The idea of mutations induced through supernova sometimes originated in the 1950s, where Otto Schindewolf, a pathologist, suggested that the supernova radiations are likely to some lethal spikes in mutations (Crutzen & Bruhl, 1996). Since then, several other researchers have delved into exploring the extinctions that are perpetuated by the supernova radiations.

Steven D'Hondt significantly points out the role of a supernova in the extinction of lifeform. Several other scholars also noted that the supernovae temporarily releases large amounts of x-rays (Wallner et al., 2016). When these rays come into Earth's atmosphere, they are likely to cause significant climate change that can drive the extinction of a large number of life forms (Ellis & Schramm, 1995). The supernovae are also believed to release much energy which, when it reaches the Earth's atmosphere, severely destroys the ozone layer (Thomas, 2018).

Ellis and Schramm suggest that the explosion of the supernova could have been responsible for one of the several mass extinctions that were recorded by various paleontologists. This can be attributed to the fact that the explosion interfered with the ozone layer, thus exposing various organisms on the Earth's surface to direct radiations (Crutzen & Bruhl, 1996).

Some of the radiations may result in mutations on the organisms affected. In contrast, some of the radiations are likely to kill individual organisms within the ecosystems directly- both the aquatic and the terrestrial organisms (Ellis & Schramm, 1995). The destruction of the ozone layer can also be linked to climate change, which has detrimental impacts on the various lifeforms. Many researchers have noted the role of the energy released from the...