Do stars have the ability to explode? How and why does this happen? Stars have the ability to explode. When stars explode, it is called a supernova. These are the most energetic events occurring in our universe (Chaisson and McMillan, 548). Supernovas occur when fusion inside the star's core slows down and, under the force of gravity, the core begins to shrink, making the star much hotter and denser. When the smelting process ends, mostly iron remains inside the core (Dove). The star goes supernova when the internal temperature of the star reaches about a billion degrees Celsius, any iron particles that remain inside the star that are all broken up begin to repel each other others (Dove). This causes the star's core to shrink even further, which eventually explodes, causing a supernova (Thompson). It only takes a few seconds for a star to go supernova. Only giant stars larger than our sun have the capacity to become supernova. Even if our sun is not large enough to explode in a supernova, it will transform into a red giant that will likely vaporize the earth before cooling into a white dwarf (Thompson). The light emitted after a supernova explosion is bright enough to last for several days in its galaxy, this emitted light is usually billions of times brighter than the light emitted by our sun. It is bright enough to hide other stars and sometimes other galaxies for days, weeks, and sometimes months, until the light goes out (Dove). Looking through even the most basic binoculars, we are sometimes able to see supernovas occurring outside of our galaxy because their light is so bright. Others we are not able to see because the comical dust from past supernovas...... middle of paper ......ps allows us to predict the impact of future supernovas on the entire universe (Dove). They also use supernovas to determine when objects around them will die and possibly go supernova. Supernovas have helped astronomers around the world learn more about our universe and what's happening in it. Works Cited Thompson, Andrea. “What is a supernova?” .Space.com. Techmedia Network. May 4, 2009, Web. 10/27/13. Dove, Laurie L. “How a Supernova Works” HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks Inc. 2013.Web. 10/29/13. “Supernovae”. National Geographic.NationalGeographic.com. National Geographic Society. 2013. Web.11/2/13 “Supernovae”. Supernova. Goddard Space Flight Center. 2011. Web.11/3/13 Wall, Jennifer. What is a supernova? NASA. NASA official.09/18/13. Internet. 11/3/13. Chaisson and McMillan. Astronomy today. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Prentice Hall Inc. 2002. Print.