Cartagena, Spain

Cartagena (Spanish pronunciation: [kartaˈxena]; Arabic: Al-Qartājanna قرطاجنة‎, Latin: Carthago Nova) is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital city. The metropolitan area of Cartagena, known as Campo de Cartagena, has a population of 409,586 inhabitants.

Cartagena has been inhabited for over two millennia, being founded around 227 BC by the Carthaginian Hasdrubal the Fair as Qart Hadasht, the same name as the original city of Carthage. The city had its heyday during the Roman Empire, when it was known as Carthago Nova (the New Carthage) and Carthago Spartaria, capital of the province of Carthaginensis. It was one of the important cities during the Umayyad invasion of Hispania, under its Arabic name of Qartayannat al-Halfa.

Much of the historical weight of Cartagena in the past goes to its coveted defensive port, one of the most important in the western Mediterranean. Cartagena has been the capital of the Spanish Navy's Maritime Department of the Mediterranean since the arrival of the Spanish Bourbons in the 18th century. As far back as the 16th century it was one of the most important naval ports in Spain, together with Ferrol in the North. It is still an important naval seaport, the main military haven of Spain, and is home to a large naval shipyard.

Region of Murcia

The Region of Murcia (Spanish: Región de Murcia; Murcian: Rigión e Murcia; Valencian: Regió de Murcia) is an autonomous community of Spain located in the southeast of the state, between Andalusia and Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast.

The autonomous community consists of a single province, unlike most autonomous communities, which have several provinces within the same territory. Because of this, the autonomous community and the province are operated as one unit of government. The city of Murcia is the capital of the region and seat of government organs, except for the parliament, the Regional Assembly of Murcia, which is located in Cartagena. The autonomous community and province is subdivided into municipalities.

The Region of Murcia is bordered by Andalusia (the provinces of Almería and Granada); Castile–La Mancha (the province of Albacete, which was historically connected to Murcia until 1980); the Valencian Community (province of Alicante); and the Mediterranean Sea. The community measures 11,313 km² and has a population of 1.4 million, of whom one-third live in the capital. The highest mountain is Los Obispos (2,015 m).

Carthage

Carthage (/ˈkɑːrθɪdʒ/; Arabic: قرطاج‎  Qarṭāj) is a city in Tunisia that was once the center of the ancient Carthaginian civilization. The city developed from a Phoenician colony of the first millennium BC into the capital of an ancient empire. The area of Carthage was inhabited by Berber people, who also became the bulk of Carthage's population and constituted a significant part of its army, economy, and administration. Native Berbers and settling Phoenicians in Carthage mixed in different ways, including religion and language, creating the Punic language and culture.

The first civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Carthaginian. The city of Carthage is located on the eastern side of Lake Tunis across from the center of Tunis. According to Greek historians, Carthage was founded by Canaanite-speaking Phoenician colonists from Tyre (in modern Lebanon) under the leadership of Queen Elissa or Dido. It became a large and rich city, thus a major power in the Mediterranean. The resulting rivalry with Syracuse, Numidia, and Rome was accompanied by several wars with respective invasions of each other's homeland.

Nova

A nova (plural novae or novas) is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion on a white dwarf, which causes a sudden brightening of the star. Novae are not to be confused with other brightening phenomena such as supernovae or luminous red novae. Novae are thought to occur on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary system when they are sufficiently near to one another, allowing material (mostly hydrogen) to be pulled from the companion star's surface onto the white dwarf. The nova is the result of the rapid fusion of the accreted hydrogen on the surface of the star, commencing a runaway fusion reaction.

Development

The development begins with two main sequence stars in a binary relation. One of the two evolves into a red giant leaving its remnant white dwarf core in orbit with the remaining star. The second star—which may be either a main sequence star, or an aging giant one as well—begins to shed its envelope onto its white dwarf companion when it overflows its Roche lobe. As a result, the white dwarf will steadily accrete matter from the companion's outer atmosphere; the white dwarf consists of degenerate matter, so the accreted hydrogen does not inflate as its temperature increases. Rapid, uncontrolled fusion occurs when the temperature of this accreted layer reaches ~20 million kelvin, initiating a burn via the CNO cycle.