Can a supernova bring an end of the world destruction?Can a supernova of our neighboring stars cause our demise? Our Sun is too young, so we can't count on it.
A supernova (SN) is essentially, an explosion of that star becoming a billion times brighter than our star (Sun) before gradually fading from view. During this explosion, the star can become brighter than any other stars in any galaxy while releasing a large cloud of dust and gas into space. The energy that is released is greater than the energy that our Sun can produce over its lifetime. There are two types of supernovae (plural form) that are recognized by astronomers. They are Type I and Type II. The classification is based on the absorption line of different chemical elements as it appears in their spectra. In simple terms, for every element, there is a specific wavelength and color range which can be matched up using the Sun's spectrum as a standard. Boy...that was digging deep (at least 20 years ago), to when I first learned about spectroscopy and actually applied it in chemistry using spectrophotometers. Type I involves binary star systems (meaning two stars that orbit around each other). If the stars are close enough to each other, the smaller of the two stars draws mass from the larger star, due to the gravitational pull of the larger star. When this small, dense star (also known as a white dwarf) reaches a mass of about 1.4 the times of our Sun, then it collapses and explodes. Type II is the result of a single star burning out its core and quickly collapsing. Another element of the classification is the tremendous release of hydrogen, along with the immense release of electromagnetic radiation and subatomic particles, like neutrinos and anti-neutrinos. The impending demise of these stars will either completely explode and vaporize itself or leave a black hole. For any event, if the Earth was close enough to a star that goes SN, it could mean the end of the world. How likely is a near earth SN? In this lifetime, it's not possible because near earth SNs are defined as stars that may go SN within 100 light years from Earth. A light year is defined as the distance light will travel in 1 year under a vacuum (equivalent to about 6 trillion miles or 10 trillion kilometers - give or take a few billion). The closest stars to Earth are just over 4 light years away and they are Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, and Centauri Proximo (all located in the Constellation Centaurus). These stars are young at 6 billion years old (our Sun is about 4.5 billion years old). They have many billions of years to go. A supernova occurs about once every 50 years in various galaxies, and yes, there are billions of them in this universe alone. There is a possiblity of an end of the world scenario by SN, but not likely because the nearest star that may go SN is Betelgeuse in the Constellation Orion. It is, however, about 600 light years from Earth and at this distance alone, the energy created by the SN may be exhausted to create any real damage to Earth. Cheers! Jason
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