Type 1A Supernova
In a Type IA Supernova,
accretion is thought to be onto a white dwarf, but at a
rate different from that for a nova.
Instead of igniting a thin surface layer, as
in the white dwarf, in this case the star becomes unstable and essentially the
entire star is consumed in a gigantic thermonuclear explosion.
This may be likened
to the explosion of a hydrogen bomb approximately the size of the Earth but
containing the mass of the Sun.