David J. Morton, age 16, Of Troy, N.C., for his question:

What is a Supernova?

The sun is a powerhouse of nuclear energy a million times larger than our planet earth. This package of stupendous energy is an average Star, similar to 100 billion other stars of our galaxy. Some of these nuclear powerhouses seem to be unstable. At some time in its history such a star may blow up with a cosmic explosion. It becomes a supernova.

The gases of almost the entire star shoot out into space at millions of miles a second, and most of the star's Stupendous energy is expended in the explosion. Each second it releases the Same amount of energy as the sun releases in 60 years. Its

Brilliance can be seen from distant galaxies. In our own galaxy, three supernovae have exploded in the past 1,000 years. The exploding gases of the 1572 supernova. Are still visible as the famous Crab Nebula in the constellation Taurus.