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nova
a sudden brightening of a star making it appear as a new star in the sky. Believed to be associated with eruptions on white swarfs in binary system
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supernova
the explosion of a star in which it increases its brightness by a factor of about a million
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degenerate matter
extremely high-density matter in which pressure no longer depends on temperature caused by quantum mechanical effects
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helium flash
the explosive ignition of helium burning that takes place in some giant stars
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planetary nebula
an expanding shell of gas ejected from a star during the latter stages of its evolutions
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open cluster
a cluster of between 100 and 1000 stars with an open, transparent appearence. The stars are not tightly grouped, and they are usually relatively young and location in the disk of the galaxy
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globular cluster
a star cluster containing 100,000 to 1 million stars in a sphere about 75 ly in diameter. Stars in such clusters are generally old, metal-poor, and found in the spherical component of the galaxy
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turnoff point
the point in an H-R diagram at which a cluster's stars turn off the main sequence and move toward the red giant region revealing the age of the cluster
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horizontal branch (H-R diagram)
in the H-R diagram, stars fusing helium in a shell and evolving back toward the giant region
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black dwarf
the end state of white dwarf star that has cooled to a low temperature
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Chandrasekhar limit
the maximum mass of a white dwarf, about 1.4 solar masses
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roche lobe
the volume of space a star controls gravitionally within a binary system
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Roche surface
the dumbbell-shaped surface that encloses the Roche lobes around a close binary star
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angular momentum
a measure of the tendency of a rotating body to continue spinning
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accretion disk
the whirling disk of gas that forms around a compact object, such as a white dwarf, neutron starm, or black hole, as matter is drawn in.
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type II supernova
a supernova explosion caused by the collapse of a massive star
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type I supernova
a supernova explosion cause by the collapse of a white dwarf from gaining mass in a binary star system
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type Ia supernova
a supernova explosion caused by the collapse of white dwarf
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type Ib supernova
a supernova explosion that is just like a type II supernova except the massive star has lost its atmosphere
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synchrotron radiation
radiation emitted when high-speed electrons move through a magnetic field
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supernova remnant
the expanding shell of gas marking the site of a supernova explosion
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