(astronomy) The explosion of a star, which increases its absolute magnitude to typically a billion times that of our sun. Some leave only debris, while others fade to invisibility as neutron stars or black holes.

plural of supernova

plural of supernova

(astronomy) A nebula that is formed from supernova explosion debris.

plural of supernova remnant

(astronomy) An extremely energetic stellar flare event that is bright enough to be mistaken for a supernova, but through later spectral analysis is revealed to not be one.

plural of supernova impostor

(astronomy) An event that ends the fusion lifetime of a large and massive star. It is a partial type-II supernova, where the collapse process occurs, but no significant rebound occurs, and the nascent black hole swallows the incoming implosion resulting in no outbound explosion or subsequent light burst.

plural of stripped-envelope supernova

(astronomy) A supernova whose spectrum lacks, or is highly deficient in, hydrogen lines, and where the star has already blown away its outer hydrogen envelope, having exposed the lower enveloping helium layer, prior to the explosion.