Simulation: Supernova Explosion

Creation of the Heavy Elements in the Supernova Explosion of a Massive Star

Hot material roils around a newly-born neutron star at the center of a core-collapse supernova. Shown is the matter entropy from a three-dimensional simulation using the Chimera code of the first half second of the explosion. Driven by intense heating from neutrinos coming from the cooling neutron star at the center, the shock wave will be driven outward, eventually ripping the star apart and flinging the elements that make up our solar system and ourselves into interstellar space.