“Supernova Poised to Go Off Near Earth”

1. Where did the information from the article originate?

The information was printed on the New Scientist website on the 23rd of May 2002 at 10:30 am. The information originated from the New Scientist Magazine Print Edition.

2. What information does the article present?

• A scientist accidentally stumbled across a star near Earth that is on the brink of exploding in a supernova.

• HR 8210 is a white dwarf which means it has run out of fuel to burn

• HR 8210 is also orbiting a companion star which is 1.15 times the mass of our sun.

• The star HR 8210 is just shy of the Chandrasekar limit – the mass at which it would be big enough to go supernova.

• HR 8210 is by far the closest supernova candidate discovered so far

• When HR 8210’s companion star begins to run out of fuel it will expand to form a red giant star. As it does this, its outer lay

ers will be dumped onto HR 8210, pushing it over the Chandrasekar limit.

Karin Sandstrom did her project this year which means this information is very recent. This also means that calculations and theories of when HR 8210 will explode are still fairly inaccurate as scientists have not had much time to go through all the calculations thoroughly.

The language of this article is fairly easy to understand. It has explanations for all the scientific terms which makes it able to be read and understood by almost anyone.

5. Analyse and evaluate the article you have found in terms of its potential impact on society and the validity and reliability of the information.

4. Evaluate the article for its scientific content.

Some topics in this essay:
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