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ch a star there would be a huge amount of energy leftover—enough to make the biggest bang in the universe。 he called these resultant explosionssupernovae。 they would be—they are—the biggest events in creation。
on january 15； 1934； the journal physical review published a very concise abstract of apresentation that had been conducted by zwicky and baade the previous month at stanforduniversity。 despite its extreme brevity—one paragraph of twenty…four lines—the abstractcontained an enormous amount of new science： it provided the first reference to supernovaeand to neutron stars； convincingly explained their method of formation； correctly calculatedthe scale of their explosiveness； and； as a kind of concluding bonus； connected supernovaexplosions to the production of a mysterious new phenomenon called cosmic rays； which hadrecently been found swarming through the universe。 these ideas were revolutionary to say theleast。 neutron stars wouldn’t be confirmed for thirty…four years。 the cosmic rays notion； though considered plausible； hasn’t been verified yet。 altogether； the abstract was； in thewords of caltech astrophysicist kip s。 thorne； “one of the most prescient documents in thehistory of physics and astronomy。”
interestingly； zwicky had almost no understanding of why any of this would happen。
according to thorne； “he did not understand the laws of physics well enough to be able tosubstantiate his ideas。” zwicky’s talent was for big ideas。 others—baade mostly—were leftto do the mathematical sweeping up。
zwicky also was the first to recognize that there wasn’t nearly enough visible mass in theuniverse to hold galaxies together and that there must be some other gravitational influence—what we now call dark matter。 one thing he failed to see was that if a neutron star shrankenough it would bee so dense that even light couldn’t escape its immense gravitationalpull。 you would have a black hole。 unfortunately； zwicky was held in such disdain by mostof his colleagues that his ideas attracted almost no notice。 when； five years later； the greatrobert oppenheimer turned his attention to neutron stars in a landmark paper； he made not asingle reference to any of zwicky’s work even though zwicky had been working for years onthe same problem in an office just down the hall。 zwicky’s deductions concerning dark matterwouldn’t attract serious attention for nearly four decades。 we can only assume that he did alot of pushups in this period。
surprisingly little of the universe is visible to us when we incline our heads to the sky。 onlyabout 6；000 stars are visible to the naked eye from earth； and only about 2；000 can be seenfrom any one spot。 with binoculars the number of stars you can see from a single locationrises to about 50；000； and with a small two…inch telescope it leaps to 300；000。 with a sixteen…inch telescope； such as evans uses； you begin to count not in stars but in galaxies。 from hisdeck； evans supposes he can see between 50；000 and 100；000 galaxies； each containing tensof billions of stars。 these are of course respectable numbers； but even with so much to take in；supernovae are extremely rare。 a star can burn for billions of years； but it dies just once andquickly； and only a few dying stars explode。 most expire quietly； like a campfire at dawn。 in atypical galaxy； consisting of a hundred billion stars； a supernova will occur on average onceevery two or three hundred years。 finding a supernova therefore was a little bit like standingon the observation platform of the empire state building with a telescope and searchingwindows around manhattan in the hope of finding； let us say； someone lighting a twenty…first…birthday cake。
so when a hopeful and softspoken minister got in touch to ask if they had any usable fieldcharts for hunting supernovae； the astronomical munity thought he was out of his mind。
at the time evans had a ten…inch telescope—a very respectable size for amateur stargazingbut hardly the sort of thing with which to do serious cosmology—and he was proposing tofind one of the universe’s rarer phenomena。 in the whole of astronomical history before evansstarted looking in 1980； fewer than sixty supernovae had been found。 （at the time i visitedhim； in august of 2001； he had just recorded his thirty…fourth visual discovery； a thirty…fifthfollowed three months later and a thirty…sixth in early 2003。）evans； however； had certain advantages。 most observers； like most people generally； are inthe northern hemisphere； so he had a lot of sky largely to himself； especially at first。 he alsohad speed and his uncanny memory。 large telescopes are cumbersome things； and much oftheir operational time is consumed with being maneuvered into position。 evans could swing his little sixteen…inch telescope around like a tail gunner in a dogfight； spending no more thana couple of seconds on any particular point in the sky。 in consequence； he could observeperhaps four hundred galaxies in an evening while a large professional telescope would belucky to do fifty or sixty。
looking for supernovae is mostly a matter of not finding them。 from 1980 to 1996 heaveraged two discoveries a year—not a huge payoff for hundreds of nights of peering andpeering。 once he found three in fifteen days； but another time he went three years withoutfinding any at all。
“there is actually a certain value in not finding anything；” he said。 “it helps cosmologists towork out the rate at which galaxies are evolving。 it’s one of those rare areas where theabsence of evidenceis evidence。”
on a table beside the telescope were stacks of photos and papers relevant to his pursuits；and he showed me some of them now。 if you have ever looked through popular astronomicalpublications； and at some time you must have； you will know that they are generally full ofrichly luminous color photos of distant nebulae and the like—fairy…lit clouds of celestial lightof the most delicate and moving splendor。 evans’s working images are nothing like that。 theyare just blurry black…and…white photos with little points of haloed brightness。 one he showedme depicted a swarm of stars with a trifling flare that i had to put close to my face to see。
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