Indian researchers have found that SN 2010kd, a super-luminous supernova stands out with the amount of mass as well as Nickel ejected during explosion.

Space science-related terms these days are often focused on Gravitational waves, Black holes etc. But basic terminologies are very important and need to be taken care of. For example, a layman may hardly find any difference between Novae-Supernovae, Neutron star, Nebula etc. UPSC often tries to bust you with such basic differences.

What are Supernovae?

• Supernovae are kind of energetic explosions were the core of massive stars (a few times to that of the mass of our Sun) goes to a catastrophic phase of explosion liberating huge amounts of energy and mass.
• These events are visible through very far away distances much beyond our own solar system.
• Super-luminous supernovae are a special type of stellar explosions having energy output 10 or more times higher than that of standard supernovae.

What is so distinct about SN 2010kd?

• The mass ejection from SN 2010kd is metallic and is much more than seen in case of normal core-collapse supernovae.
• The scientists found that SN 2010kd exploded with a larger velocity but decayed slower than other similar supernovae.
• The observations show that parameters like rotation and metallicity play a crucial role in stellar explosions.

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