Seems funny to be sitting in a library making a reference query to poeple elswhere... but you go where the experts are (and my own collection of astrophysics primers are at home), and since I'm here...

My understanding of the Chandrasekhar Limit (1.4 solar masses, if I recall correctly) is that it is not related to whether a star will "go supernova", but rather, if it does, whether the core will become a neutron star.

Further: the standard supernova scenario in astronomy texts and books for the general reader describe a star nearing the end of its evolutionary cycle, when it consists of concentric shells of various heavy elements and is making iron in its core. The article cited makes no mention of the composition of the star, but refers to it as a "white dwarf". From a generalist's self-education, this implies the star in question has already passed through its end-stage fusion process and final collapse, and is in the long slow process of radiative cooling.

Yes, I also recall that there's more than one type of supernova, and that one involves accretion of mass from another star in a close binary pair... and that is my question:

Do I recall the Chandrasekhar Limit factor correctly, in terms of it's application to this problem?

Thanks in advance for clarification,

Fox