(G=EMC^2 Glazier) wrote in
:

Hi Rgds I find that interesting that Venus can be seen in day
light,if you know where to look. I think I read(long time ago)
that this supernova explosion's light lasted for two weeks. Was that
the length of the explosion?
I would think being an explosion the light would
only last a second,especially since the supernova is surrounded by
just the vacuum of space.

With a type II supernova that forms a neutron star via collapse, you
have a pretty complex situation. The neutron star is very small compared
to the original star and initially will be furiously oscillating. Theory
says that these oscillations would damp out rapidly via gravitational
radiation (the LIGO experiment is currently trying to detect such
radiation from such a collapse event - no nearby type II's have occurred
since LIGO has been running though). The neutron star will also have an
enormous temperature (billions of degrees). It gets rid of a lot of this
energy by neutrino emission and eventually normal thermal radiation from
its' surface. In the mean time the outer layers of the star get blown
off by a gigantic shock wave which also causes all sorts of nuclear
reactions to take place. The debris glows brightly from thermal
radiation and it is also being pumped with additional energy from
radioactive decay. The debris doesn't reach its peak brightness in the
optical spectrum until quite a while after the actual blast. The debris
continues to glow and expand for thousands of years after the supernova.
That is why we can still see the crab nebula today.

Could these great explosions disrupt the fabric of
space? I'm working on a theory that space creates inertia,and it could
fit in here nicely. Its on the lines of Mach thinking Bert


That isn't a theory. You need to do a bit of learning.

Llanzlan.