Guiding Questions

• What kinds of nuclear reactions occur within a star like the Sun as it ages?

• Where did the carbon atoms in our bodies come from?

• What is a planetary nebula, and what does it have to do with planets?

• What is a white dwarf star?

• Why do high-mass stars go through more evolutionary stages than low-mass stars?

• What happens within a high-mass star to turn it into a supernova?

• Why was SN 1987A an unusual supernova?

• What was learned by detecting neutrinos from SN 1987A?

• How do white dwarf stars give rise to certain types of supernovae?

• What vestiges are left after a supernova explosion?