Neutrinos and SN 1987A

A core-collapse supernova releases most of its energy as neutrinos.  This
theoretical conclusion is confirmed by a single event, the supernova seen in
the Large Magellanic Cloud in 1987.  Large neutrino detectors buried deep underground
detect cosmic neutrinos by looking for neutrino collisions with electrons.  Three
neutrino detectors saw a handful of these collisions by neutrinos traveling from
the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud just before a blue supergiant star
in the nearby dwarf galaxy exploded.  The energy carried by these neutrinos
is consistent with the energy generated in the core-collapse of a massive star.

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