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The Death Star

Horizon investigates hypernovas, the explosive deaths of massive stars twenty times the size of the Sun. These violent blasts may help explain how the very first stars were made

Explosions of extraordinary violence blast through the Universe every day. They are so powerful that if they ever struck our solar system, we would be utterly destroyed. For years no one could work out what was causing them, but now scientists think they have cracked it. The culprit is the most extreme object ever found in the universe - a hypernova. These hypernovas are the death cries of massive stars twenty times the size of the Sun, which meet their ends in vast, apocalyptic explosions. Hypernovas may hold the key to one of the mysteries of the universe - how, billions of years ago, the very first stars were made and the process that created everything we see in the universe began.

50 minutes

Last on

Wed 6 Feb 2002 00:55

Broadcasts

  • Thu 18 Oct 2001 21:00
  • Wed 28 Nov 2001 20:00
  • Sun 2 Dec 2001 10:00
  • Sun 2 Dec 2001 13:10
  • Sun 2 Dec 2001 16:00
  • Mon 3 Dec 2001 00:30
  • Wed 16 Jan 2002 19:20
  • Tue 5 Feb 2002 18:30
  • Wed 6 Feb 2002 00:55