Intensive Monitoring Survey of Nearby Galaxies (IMSNG) is a high cadence observation program monitoring nearby galaxies with high probabilities of hosting supernovae (SNe). IMSNG aims to constrain the SN explosion mechanism by inferring sizes of SN progenitor systems through the detection of the shock-heated emission that lasts less than a few days after the SN explosion. To catch the signal, IMSNG utilizes a network of 0.5-m to 1-m class telescopes around the world and monitors the images of 60 nearby galaxies at distances D < 50 Mpc to a cadence as short as a few hours. The target galaxies are bright in near-ultraviolet (NUV) with MNUV < - 18.4 AB mag and have high probabilities of hosting SNe (0.06 SN yr-1 per galaxy). With this strategy, we expect to detect the early light curves of 3.4 SNe per year to a depth of R  19:5 mag, enabling us to detect the shock-heated emission from a progenitor star with a radius as small as 0.1 R. The accumulated data will be also useful for studying faint features around the target galaxies and other science projects. So far, 18 SNe have occurred in our target fields (16 in IMSNG galaxies) over 5 years, confirming our SN rate estimate of 0.06 SN yr-1 per galaxy.

Observed spectra of supernovae allow the empirical classification of supernovae into two basic categories, Type I with little or no evidence of hydrogen, and Type II with obvious evidence for hydrogen. The broad class of Type I can be subdivided depending on whether helium or silicon and other intermediate mass elements is observed. Understanding the physical processes that underlie these classifications---the progenitor evolution. the explosion mechanism, and end products---requires calculation of radiative transfer and model spectra. While most Type II occur in evolved massive stars that undergo core collapse. some may span the dividing line between degenerate and non-degenerate carbon burning and involve both core collapse and thermonuclear explosion. Type Ia are still most plausibly explained as thermonuclear explosions in carbon/oxygen white dwarfs in binary systems. Type Ib reveal helium atmospheres and are probably the result of core collapse in the helium core of a massive star that has lost its hydrogen envelope to a binary companion or to a wind. Type Ic supernovae are probably related to Type Ib but have also lost their helium envelope to reveal a mantle rich in oxygen.

At intermediate mass transfer rates, accretion disks in binary star systems undergo a thermally-driven limit cycle instability. This instability leads to outburst episodes when the disk is bright and the flow through the disk is rapid separated by long intervals when the disk is dim and the flow through it is low. This intrinsic outburst mechanism can help to understand a wide range of astrophysical phenomena from dwarf novae to soft X -ray transients involving white dwarf, neutron star, and black holes. and to a deeper understanding of the mechanism of angular transport and viscosity in the accretion disk.