NASA gives next definition of Supernova:
After that they elaborate, which is critical for further discussion in this blog.
One type of supernova is caused by the
“last hurrah” of a dying massive star. This happens when a star at
least five times the mass of our sun goes out with a fantastic bang! Massive stars burn huge amounts of nuclear fuel at their cores, or centers. This produces tons of energy,
so the center gets very hot. Heat generates pressure, and the pressure
created by a star’s nuclear burning also keeps that star from
collapsing. A star is in balance between two opposite forces. The star’s gravity
tries to squeeze the star into the smallest, tightest ball possible. But
the nuclear fuel burning in the star’s core creates strong outward
pressure. This outward push resists the inward squeeze of gravity. When a massive star runs out of fuel,
it cools off. This causes the pressure to drop. Gravity wins out, and
the star suddenly collapses. Imagine something one million times the
mass of Earth collapsing in 15 seconds! The collapse happens so quickly
that it creates enormous shock waves that cause the outer part of the
star to explode! Usually a very dense core is left behind, along with an expanding
cloud of hot gas called a nebula. A supernova of a star more than about
10 times the size of our sun may leave behind the densest objects in the
universe—black holes.
Important fact of supernovae is their age--usually they are massive stars and do not live long--unlike stars like our Sun--their lifespan is counted in tens millions of years, which is in universe's time is merely a minute. So, can this astrophysics be an analogy to the United States?
I think it is a perfect analogy and here I have to quote late George F. Kennan who wrote in his remarkable At The Century's Ending in 1996:
Not all that went by the name of communism in Russia was bad; nor were all of those who believed in it...
Today, the rephrasing is not only warranted, it is irresistible: Not all that went by the name of democracy in the United States was bad; nor were all of those who believed in it... I surely did. And here is a "supernova" moment. Despite the violence of the process which the young star undergoes before going supernova and during this enormous explosion which wipes out anything in the radius of many light years, these are the supernovae which are literally responsible, for once, for life on Earth. Those explosions produce an insane amount of critical heavy elements which allow the formation of such things as iron. Our molecules, the ones which constitute us are literally--a stardust after supernova.
And here we need to go back to Kennan's rephrasing--not everything that the United States produced was bad, nor were people who were producing it. We always need to look at the larger picture. Examples abound, no matter how one tries to argue to the contrary--it was the United States who, however irritating and obnoxious, was the country (not Great Britain and her Magna Carta) that embedded the idea of democratic process and constitutionalism in the times when France was executing its aristocracy and simpletons in industrial numbers and guillotines operated non-stop. It was at this time that legendary Captain (Rear-Admiral in Russian Navy) John Paul Jones presented Catherine the Great the copy of American Constitution. Some audacity in the age of absolutism.
Obviously, today when the so called American "democracy" is a butt of jokes around the world and is mocked everywhere getting ready to go supernova, we cannot deny this fact of American influence on the Western Civilization and today everyone understands that people MUST have a choice and their voice MUST be heard. This was this "heavy element" disseminated around the world, same as Bill of Rights which is a towering achievement, despite American political and ideological dysfunction. In the end, American economic expansion and technological drive she provided for the whole world for the last century and a half simply cannot be denied. It is the American technological and industrial genius which allows me to do what I do now--sitting in a front of my monitors and typing this for your consideration. This is also this crucial heavy element which cannot be denied. When America was behind plow, instead of machine gun--she shone bright, sometimes blindingly bright.
Even American culture, from early to late 1990s Hollywood, to jazz, to rock music, to vibrant literature and even some element of pop-culture--were good. Remember: not everything was bad, nor were people who believed in that. But is America really nearing a supernova? Let's reiterate:
When a massive star runs out of fuel,
it cools off. This causes the pressure to drop. Gravity wins out, and
the star suddenly collapses. Imagine something one million times the
mass of Earth collapsing in 15 seconds! The collapse happens so quickly
that it creates enormous shock waves that cause the outer part of the
star to explode!
But not all supernova end up with being a black hole. Often what's left is a neutron star or even a white dwarf when the star doesn't have enough mass to go full blown supernova and instead expands and then contracts, as should happen to our Sun in about 4-5 billion years. So, is the United States a supernova, which threatens all life around or is it merely in its contraction phase after which a long process of decay from the hot white dwarf to a cool, reddish black dwarf starts. You decide. But whatever might be the case, we certainly cannot deny the fact of a large star shining very brightly for a fairly short time in human history not to mention universe's time scale and it may take a fairly long time to sift through piles of facts to put everything into proper perspective.
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