Supernova explosion may wipe out earth

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by Scaramouche, Jan 7, 2010.

  1. Scaramouche Registered Member

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    I love the billion billion billion mega.
     
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  3. Blindman Valued Senior Member

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    Always hoped I would witness a supernova. Hope it can be seen in the southern hemisphere. I doute very much that it would "wipe out" Earth but could be spectacular.
     
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  5. kmguru Staff Member

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    that would put several billions out of their misery....
     
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  7. madanthonywayne Morning in America Registered Senior Member

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    Great. One more thing to worry about.
     
  8. Scaramouche Registered Member

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    Billion billion billions?
     
  9. kurros Registered Senior Member

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    Well they said it could wipe out the ozone layer, so it would be more of a slow and painful death situation. The human race would probably survive but the world may become a bit of a post-apocalyptic wasteland

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  10. Blindman Valued Senior Member

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    UV-B radiation is not an instant killer. We deal with it almost daily, thats part of the reason we limit exposure to the sun.

    Nova's are short term events and it is unknown how much of the ozone will be destroyed. Ozone will replenish its self within a life time.

    When the night time sky lights up its time to invest in sunscreen manufactures.

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  11. kurros Registered Senior Member

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    If the whole ozone layer is destroyed then we'd be mighty screwed, things like phytoplankton would killed off in huge numbers which would screw the rest of the planetary ecosystem right up. Also our crops and livestock would suffer extensively. It's not just a few percent extra UV-B we'd be getting, the ozone layer currently blocks something like 98% of it. We'd really not be able to go outside without getting a big dose of radiation.
     
  12. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    err that depends on the volume. We deal with microwaves on a daily basis too but that doesnt mean i think a nap in my microwave while its on high for 2 min would be conjucive to life.

    There are probably some gamma rays floating around too but that doesnt mean i want to stand next to a nuke when it goes off
     
  13. Trippy ALEA IACTA EST Staff Member

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    This article is bullshit. It's stupid friggin hyped up panic mongering sales grabbing BS.

    I first came across this article three days ago on Universe Today, the reference an arxiv article on TPyx The Nova Shell and Evolution of the Recurrent Nova T Pyxidis.

    In it the come to the conclusion that,among other things, it may not even be valid to call TPyx a recurrent novae anymore, they predict that the earliest the next eruption (like the 1967 one which did not sterilize the earth) is 2225. Essentially, they suggest that TPyx is entering a dormant state which will last for 2.6 million years, before the white dwarf and the primary resume contact, accrete for 750,000 years, and then enter a new phase of similar eruptions.

    Their conclusion on the subject:

    They also come to the conclusion that IF T Pyx does go type IA on us, it won't be for at least another 20 BILLION years.

     
  14. kurros Registered Senior Member

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  15. Trippy ALEA IACTA EST Staff Member

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  16. Blindman Valued Senior Member

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    There are thousands of species of phytoplankton, some are aversely effected, some thrive.

    Anyways cant wait to see the night sky light up, just hope im in the right hemisphere.
     
  17. fedr808 1100101 Valued Senior Member

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    Well the science behind it all checks out.

    What happens is that different kinds of stars have different limits for how massive they can be before they collapse (after all, stars arent solid matter)

    The physical limit of a white dwarf is 38% larger than our sun.

    What causes this kind of supernova is when there are two binary stars, one begins to die and becomes a red giant, the second star begins sucking in material from the red giant and eventually enters the red giant and the core of the red giant and the second star orbit each other like binary stars. Eventually when the gas leaves the binary stars the core of the former red giant becomes a white dwarf and the other star remains alive. But when then the white dwarf begins sucking in material.

    A white dwarf can only exist as a white dwarf within the mass limit, but by sucking in material from it's companion star, it is gaining mass and nearing the limit.

    And the fact is that it is 3260 light years from us, and the fact is, is that it is going to happen soon. What the news left out is how the word "soon" is relative in astronomy.
    Chandrasekhar is the limit I spoke of above.
     
  18. Grim_Reaper I Am Death Destroyer of Worlds Registered Senior Member

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    Ok so if it is so far away how do they now it has not already exploded and anywhere from a few minutes to a few thousand years is what the expected life span on earth could be.
     
  19. fedr808 1100101 Valued Senior Member

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    they have accounted for that already,
     
  20. Trippy ALEA IACTA EST Staff Member

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    And what is mentioned in the Arxiv paper I linked to is the fact that most of the estimates that predict a Nova of TPyx any time soon are based on provably out of date models that don't account for the 1866 eruption, and don't account for the continued secular decline in the system brightness. Taking those into account, the paper, somewhat convincingly comes to the conclusion that the system does not appear to have enough mass to ever reach the chandrasekhar limit, and if it does, any novae is likely many hubble times away (where a hubble time is 13.8 billion years).
     
  21. fedr808 1100101 Valued Senior Member

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    But in my link it also said that despite the novae the white dwarf is still growing in mass.
     
  22. John M Registered Senior Member

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    smokin their toner again, eh.
     
  23. Fraggle Rocker Staff Member

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    Maybe it will, but 3,000LY away would it be noticeable?
    So we'll be a dot on a sphere with a 3,000LY radius. Perhaps one of you math people can figure out what percentage of the radiation will hit our planet, and whether that percentage is enough to do any damage?
    We only have prefixes going up to 10^24, so that's a giga-yottaton.
     

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