Strangely Behaving Supernovae Leave Physicists Bemused

[PersianPaladin]

Supernovae are in the news this week, as two papers in the latest release from Nature provide fresh perspectives on stellar explosions old and new. The old one is Supernova 1987A, the closest one in the age of modern astronomy, which has recently undergone a brightening that indicates a key transition in its evolution has taken place. The new one is actually an entirely new category of supernova, represented by four examples. The output of this new category is heavily biased towards the blue end of the spectrum, it's ten times brighter than a Type Ia supernova, and we aren't sure what could possibly be powering it.

http://arstechnica.c...sts-bemused.ars

While the authors of the Nature article offer two suggestions on what could conceivably be causing it; they seem to miss a potential third cause. After all, Occams Razor tells us that if there is a simpler explanation it should at least be considered:-

Abstract

Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A) is the closest supernova event since the invention of the telescope. It was first seen in February 1987 in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a dwarf companion galaxy of the Milky Way and only 169000 light years from Earth. The Hubble images of the rings of SN 1987A are spectacular and unexpected. The beaded ring pattern of brightening is not well explained as an expanding spherical shock front into an earlier stellar wind. The axial shape of SN 1987A is that of a planetary nebula. It seems that new concepts are required to explain supernovae and planetary nebulae. The new discipline of plasma cosmology provides a precise analog in the form of a Z-pinch plasma discharge. The phenomena match so accurately that the number of bright beads can be accounted for and their behavior predicted. If supernovae are a plasma discharge phenomenon, the theoretical conditions for forming neutron stars and other supercondensed objects are not fulfilled, and plasma concepts must be introduced to explain pulsar remnants of supernovae. If the bipolar Z-pinch pattern is introduced to explain supernovae and planetary nebulae, a new electrical theory of stars is required.

http://ieeexplore.ie...thDecision=-203

Wal Thornhill also wrote an article about it here (for those who don't subscribe to the IEEE journal).

Edited June 9, 2011 by PersianPaladin

[Ja23]

Its 2012.

[Snowyowl9]

Cosmic bubbles coming into our solar system now too all new discoveries on the science front.

http://www.space.com/11884-nasa-bubbles-solar-system-edge.html

[Methuselah]

Why should the behaviour of one supenova require a whole new theory of stars? Forgive me for sounding odd, but aren't we learning new things about the Universe and its workings every day? Blimey, I can still recall the discovery of pulsars back in the late 1960s. For a while physicists were bemused, but - hey! - science advances rather like a ratchet. It doesn't get completely overturned and rewritten every time a new discovery is made...

I do wish folks would stop using overdramatization to draw attention to themselves. If it were the big pharma or AGW climate researchers, they'd be being accused of touting for goverment grants??

Anyway, I thought we were about to witness the arrival of Electromagnetic Plasma Theory (ELP )? Don't say that that's been superceded even before its made the news headlines??

[PersianPaladin]

Why should the behaviour of one supenova require a whole new theory of stars? Forgive me for sounding odd, but aren't we learning new things about the Universe and its workings every day? Blimey, I can still recall the discovery of pulsars back in the late 1960s. For a while physicists were bemused, but - hey! - science advances rather like a ratchet. It doesn't get completely overturned and rewritten every time a new discovery is made...

I do wish folks would stop using overdramatization to draw attention to themselves. If it were the big pharma or AGW climate researchers, they'd be being accused of touting for goverment grants??

Anyway, I thought we were about to witness the arrival of Electromagnetic Plasma Theory (ELP )? Don't say that that's been superceded even before its made the news headlines??

Why not?

The conventional view of stars (and cosmology in general) has many other problems:-

http://hozturner.blogspot.com/2011/03/challenging-group-think-of-mainstream.html

[Snowyowl9]

I do wish folks would stop using overdramatization to draw attention to themselves. If it were the big pharma or AGW climate researchers, they'd be being accused of touting for goverment grants??

They can`t even get the dynamics of the weather right let alone how complex it is whats going on in space.

Thought there was a hot june coming,it`s the complete opposite even snow in wales today.

[Methuselah]

Why not?

The conventional view of stars (and cosmology in general) has many other problems:-

http://hozturner.blogspot.com/2011/03/challenging-group-think-of-mainstream.html

Yes mate, I know; thanks for the concern, though...I studied the subject at degree level...It's just that I'm not yet convinced that we're in need of another paradigm shift...