The Death of Stars
In Our Time7 Juli 2022

The Death of Stars

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the abrupt transformation of stars after shining brightly for millions or billions of years, once they lack the fuel to counter the force of gravity. Those like our own star, the Sun, become red giants, expanding outwards and consuming nearby planets, only to collapse into dense white dwarves. The massive stars, up to fifty times the mass of the Sun, burst into supernovas, visible from Earth in daytime, and become incredibly dense neutron stars or black holes. In these moments of collapse, the intense heat and pressure can create all the known elements to form gases and dust which may eventually combine to form new stars, new planets and, as on Earth, new life.

The image above is of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, approximately 10,000 light years away, from a once massive star that died in a supernova explosion that was first seen from Earth in 1690

With

Martin Rees Astronomer Royal, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

Carolin Crawford Emeritus Member of the Institute of Astronomy and Emeritus Fellow of Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge

And

Mark Sullivan Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Southampton

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Avsnitt(1081)

The Irish Rebellion of 1798

The Irish Rebellion of 1798

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the momentum behind rebellion in Ireland in 1798, the people behind the rebellion and the impact over the next few years and after. Amid wider unrest, the United Irishm...

5 Jan 202355min

The Nibelungenlied

The Nibelungenlied

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss The Song of the Nibelungs, a twelfth century German epic, full of blood, violence, fantasy and bleakness. It is a foundational work of medieval literature, drawing on t...

29 Dec 202254min

The Challenger Expedition 1872-1876

The Challenger Expedition 1872-1876

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the voyage of HMS Challenger which set out from Portsmouth in 1872 with a mission a to explore the ocean depths around the world and search for new life. The scale of t...

22 Dec 202251min

Demosthenes' Philippics

Demosthenes' Philippics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the speeches that became a byword for fierce attacks on political opponents. It was in the 4th century BC, in Athens, that Demosthenes delivered these speeches against ...

15 Dec 202256min

Bauhaus

Bauhaus

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Bauhaus which began in 1919 in Weimar, Germany, as a school for arts and crafts combined, and went on to be famous around the world. Under its first director, Walte...

8 Dec 202256min

The Morant Bay Rebellion

The Morant Bay Rebellion

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rebellion that broke out in Jamaica on 11th October 1865 when Paul Bogle (1822-65) led a protest march from Stony Gut to the courthouse in nearby Morant Bay. There...

1 Dec 202253min

Wilfred Owen

Wilfred Owen

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the celebrated British poet of World War One. Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) had published only a handful of poems when he was killed a week before the end of the war, but in...

24 Nov 202256min

The Fish-Tetrapod Transition

The Fish-Tetrapod Transition

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the greatest changes in the history of life on Earth. Around 400 million years ago some of our ancestors, the fish, started to become a little more like humans. ...

17 Nov 202255min

Populärt inom Historia

massmordarpodden
p3-historia
historiska-brott
motiv
kod-katastrof
olosta-mord
historiepodden-se
historianu-med-urban-lindstedt
rss-historien-om
rss-seriemordarpodden
rss-massmordarpodden
rss-brottsligt
krigshistoriepodden
rss-historiska-brottslingar
harrisons-dramatiska-historia
rss-arkiv-stieg
palmemordet
militarhistoriepodden
nu-blir-det-historia
rss-historiens-mysterier