Primary school girls discover explosions of superstars

A 10-year-old female student in Canada has recently been recognized by the International Astronomical Union as the youngest person to see the star exploding scene.

Illustration of supernova explosion. ( Wind.caspercollege.edu photo )

Kathryn Aurora Gray, a student in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, discovered a supernova explosion ( the phenomenon of massive stars exploding ) on January 2 when she directed a telescope to distant galaxies. sticky, AFP reported.

' We are pleased to announce that a 10-year-old amateur astronomer discovered a supernova explosion ,' the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada said.

Gray sees a big star explode in the constellation Camelopardalis . This constellation belongs to a galaxy 240 light years from Earth. Soon the student told her father - also an amateur astronomer - about her discovery.

Two other amateur astronomers verified the information of Gray's father and son before announcing to the International Astronomical Union. The experts of the International Astronomical Union named the explosion Supernova 2010lt .

When stars with 8-15 times the mass of the sun and no more fuel for nuclear reactions, their cores begin to become denser. When the mass of the core reaches a certain level, the matter of the star will collapse in by its own gravity. The matter is then pushed back outward, creating a huge explosion. The material left after the explosion is the super-dense nucleus that scientists call neutron stars.

Supernova explosions are one of the most exciting events for astronomers. On average every 50 years there is a supernova explosion in a galaxy the size of the Milky Way . In other words, a star explodes every second somewhere in the entire universe. In 2008, for the first time, scientists discovered supernova explosions in progress.