• Question: is the light from a super nova dangerous

    Asked by 389sptm42 to Ollie on 5 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Alexander Burke

      Alexander Burke answered on 5 Mar 2018:

      Oooooh yes. Luckily for us, our Sun not heavy enough to go through a supernova. However, just for a cool example, let’s assume that it was. If our sun went through a supernova it would destroy the entire solar system. In fact, if this happened right this very second, then you would only have 8 minutes left before the earth was blinded by a huge flash of light. I personally cannot describe how light our sky would be… it would be blinding. The outer parts of the Sun would be blown off and would eventually obliterate the earth. Even Pluto, the farthest “planet” in the solar system, would be heated to temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun. Supernovae are very powerful explosions and you really do not want to be caught out by one!

Comments

  • Photo: Guy

    Guy commented on :

    Our sun is too light to be a “core collapse” supernova (needs a star about 20 times heavier) and can’t be detonated by a binary companion because we’re not in a binary system. Other stars are too far away to melt the planets in our system if they explode. However, a supernova a few light years away could mess up the ozone layer in our atmosphere. According to Wikipedia, we see a supernova closer than 33 light years every 240 million years or so. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-Earth_supernova .

  • Photo: 775sptm35

    775sptm35 commented on :

    That is mad