Supernova question

[weeman]

<p>In the words of Douglas Adams: <span>"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may&nbsp;think it's a long way&nbsp;down the&nbsp;road to the chemist, but that's just&nbsp;peanuts to space."</span></p><p><span>With that being said, since space is so large, much of the universe we see today is the universe when it was much&nbsp;younger.&nbsp;Many galaxies that we view in Hubble's Deep Field pictures are billions of light years away. So, is this the reason why supernovae appear to be rare in our observable universe? Are supernovae rare only because much of the universe that we see was too young to produce large amounts of supernovae? My basic understanding of&nbsp;supernovae is that they require a very large amount of time to happen.</span>&nbsp;</p><p>Do astronomers have any calculations as to how many supernovae may be taking place in the material universe right now? In other words, based on how the universe may be aging today, do astronomers have a percentage as to how many more stars in the observable universe that have gone supernova and who's light has yet to reach us?</p><p>I hope these questions make sense. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000">Techies: We do it in the dark. </font></strong></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>"Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.</strong><strong>" -Albert Einstein </strong></font></p> </div>