Imagine the Universe!
Imagine Home  |   Ask A High Energy Astronomer  |  
Ask a High-Energy Astronomer

The Question

(Submitted May 03, 1999)

Who discovered what a supernova is? How did they discover it?

The Answer

Fritz Zwicky, Walter Baade, and Rudolph Minkowski developed the theories about what supernovae are in the 1930s.

http://lycos.infoplease.com/ce5/CE050177.html

It took a while for these to be confirmed by various techniques. (e.g. the discovery of pulsars inside supernova remnants.)

David Palmer and Samar Safi-Harb
for Ask a High-Energy Astronomer

Previous question
Prev
Main topic
Main
Next question
Next
Imagine the Universe is a service of the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), Dr. Nicholas White (Director), within the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The Imagine Team
Project Leader: Dr. Jim Lochner
All material on this site has been created and updated between 1997-2004.

CD Table of Contents