An Introduction to Supernovae - LUTH

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Si
O
Note: figure not drawn to scale!
C
He
H
Onion-like structure
of a CCSN progenitor
several million years
after its birth:
mass: 10 ... 10 2 M sun
radius: 50 ... 10 3 R sun
- shells of different
composition are
separated by active
thermonuclear
burning shells
- core Si-burning
leads to formation
of central iron core