ABSTRACT
The catastrophic explosion of a star is known as a supernova. Although there seem to be a number of ways in which the explosion can occur, the results are similar. A star explodes with the emission of some 1051 erg of energy in a very short time interval. The star is destroyed although its remains can be detected for thousands of years thereafter over a wide range of wavelengths. Supernovae play a critical role in high energy astrophysics for many reasons, among them the production of heavy elements, the formation of new stars, and the acceleration of cosmic rays. They have also been used as standard candles for measurements of distance on the cosmological scale.
