Supernova

Artworks

The supernova series recreates the moment when a supergiant reaches the end of its life. These digital drawings document the moments immediately after the core collapses, and the newly created elements within the core are blasted out into deep space to disperse and become part of the interstellar medium. A Type II supernova.

This process is where death and life meet. These newly created elements will eventually, after millions or billions of years within the interstellar medium, form new stars, solar systems, and planets. This is how our sun and solar system were created. However, for all of this to take place, a supergiant star must meet a violent, cataclysmic fate. This cycle has been repeating itself since the birth of the very first stars billions of years ago and continues light-years away above our heads.

The drawings begin life as black ink on paper. Both materials, like most objects here on Earth, are a combination of elements at an atomic level. Most, if not all, can be traced back to being created in the hearts of dying stars. The artwork establishes a bridge between the viewer on a more complex level than what first appears. Although not a real supernova visually, it is created using the remains of a dead star.

Beacons of the Cosmos

'Beacons of the Cosmos' touches on the death dance between a star and a companion white dwarf star undergoing a kind of supernova known as a Type 1a Supernova or SN Ia. These occur when two stars are born close together. Spending their lives in simultaneous orbits around each other. Eventually, the star with the smaller mass becomes a white dwarf star after blowing away its outer layers. However, the White dwarf will begin to attract matter from the ageing companion star. This matter, predominately in the form of Hydrogen, begins to accumulate on the White Dwarf's surface and slowly becomes denser and hotter. When this reaches 10 million degrees and hits 1.4 times the mass of the sun (the limit for any White Dwarf), then nuclear fusion begins again. Only this time, it's like detonating a hydrogen bomb that's trillions of times more violent, blowing the White Dwarf apart.

These violent deaths, however, have proven incredibly useful in our exploration of the cosmos. SN Ia's are the most luminous kind of supernova. Able to be viewed across billions of light-years. The second, due to the limit for a white dwarf being 1.5 times the mass of the Sun, they all attain very similar energy outputs and fade at the same rate once reaching their maximum brightness. This is why they are used in a way which makes them the 'Standard Candles' of the cosmos. By using this method, we can calculate the distance to a Type 1a supernova compared to another from Earth based on its brightness. In turn, this allowed accurate measurement taking of distant Type 1a's and then allowed even more contributions to science. By using Type 1a's and various formulas, equipment and the Hubble Space Telescope, it was found that the most distant Type 1a was fainter than expected. This implied the supernova was further than where it was meant to be. Contributing to the evidence that something was expanding the universe a bit more rapidly than expected. 'Dark Energy' was the only culprit that fit the facts. However, it was due to the use of 'Standard Candles' of the cosmos which allowed more evidence to contribute towards this theory. Type 1a's truly are the Beacons of the Cosmos.