The illustrated publication “SUPER NOVAE. How stellar deaths shape our universe” explores stellar explosions and their connection to the elements that make life possible, neutrinos and some of the cosmos’s greatest mysteries.
How do stars die? What remains after a supernova? How are these explosions connected to the matter we are made of? UNDARK, a project funded by the European Union through the WIDERA programme under Horizon Europe and coordinated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), brings these questions to the public through SUPER NOVAE, an illustrated publication whose Spanish edition is available to download free of charge.
Written by Jorge Martin Camalich and Pasquale Dario Serpico, with illustrations and design by Ève Barlier, SUPER NOVAE combines scientific explanations with visual storytelling in a 16-page journey through some of the Universe’s most extraordinary phenomena.
The journey begins with observations of a “guest star” recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054 and the supernova studied by Tycho Brahe in 1572, whose measurements helped challenge the idea of unchanging heavens. Building on these historical episodes, the publication introduces the physical processes that maintain the balance within stars and the mechanisms that can trigger their collapse.
Neutrinos play a prominent role. These particles allow scientists to explore the interiors of stellar explosions and are fundamental to models explaining how massive stars explode. Supernova SN 1987A illustrates how combining observations of light and neutrinos opened a new window onto the cosmos.
The publication also explains the formation and dispersal of chemical elements, neutron stars, pulsars and black holes. It connects these objects to gravitational waves, cosmic rays and the possibility of discovering previously unknown particles during a future supernova in our Galaxy.
With accessible language and a visual approach that invites readers to explore every page, SUPER NOVAE offers a resource for discovering stellar physics and understanding how the death of stars helps transform the Universe.
