SUPERNOVA (supernovae)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: supernovae   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does supernova mean? 

• SUPERNOVA (noun)
  The noun SUPERNOVA has 1 sense:

1. a star that explodes and becomes extremely luminous in the process

  Familiarity information: SUPERNOVA used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUPERNOVA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A star that explodes and becomes extremely luminous in the process

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Hypernyms ("supernova" is a kind of...):

star ((astronomy) a celestial body of hot gases that radiates energy derived from thermonuclear reactions in the interior)

Instance hyponyms:

Crab Nebula (a remnant of a supernova detected first in 1054 AD)

 Context examples 

Based on those observations, the team suggests that a supernova could be the source of the Cow.

(Mysterious Blast Studied with NASA Telescopes, NASA)

Earth just happened to be in close proximity to the right kind of supernova, making it unusually lucky.

(Finding Alien Life Unlikely Due to Lack of Phosphorus in Universe, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

In modern times, astronomers have observed the debris field from this explosion − what is now known as Tycho’s supernova remnant.

(Chandra Movie Captures Expanding Debris from a Stellar Explosion, NASA)

All heavy elements in the universe come from supernova explosions.

(Kepler Catches Early Flash of an Exploding Star, NASA)

When the early stars died, black holes, supernovae and other objects they left behind continued the ionizing process and heated the remaining free hydrogen with X-rays, eventually extinguishing the signal.

(Astronomers detect ancient signal from first stars in universe, National Science Foundation)

A neutron star is the crushed core left behind when a star much more massive than the Sun runs out of fuel, collapses under its own weight and explodes as a supernova.

(NASA’s Fermi Mission Links Nearby Pulsar’s Gamma-ray ‘Halo’ to Antimatter Puzzle, NASA)

Within the last decade, some scientists have been challenging the supernova interpretation, suggesting that much or all of the soft X-ray diffuse background is instead a result of charge exchange.

(Evidence for supernovas near Earth, NASA)

No visible light was detected with the X-ray source, a fact that most likely rules out the possibility that it is also a supernova.

(NASA Satellite Spots a Mystery That's Gone in a Flash, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

They will eventually explosively end their lives in a supernova, leaving behind rich debris of gas and dust.

(Stellar Nursery Blooms into View, ESO)

Pulsars were previously massive stars that exploded in powerful supernovae, leaving behind these small, dense stellar corpses.

(NuSTAR Helps Find Universe's Brightest Pulsars, NASA)