Supernova Poised to go off near earth? Surprise, surprise.......

Old article, but still relevant nonetheless.

--



Supernova poised to go off near Earth

10:30 23 May 02


A student at Harvard University has stumbled across the terrifying
spectacle of a star in our galactic backyard that is on the brink of
exploding in a supernova. It is so close that if it were to blow up
before moving away from us, it could wipe out life on Earth.

(Photo: SPL)

Most supernovae occur when large stars run out of fuel and then collapse
under their own weight. As atoms in the star are squeezed together, they
rebound outwards, blowing off energy in a dazzling and dangerous display
lasting several weeks.

But this one is different. Called HR 8210, it is a humble white dwarf, a
star that has run out of fuel and should be too small to produce a
supernova. But it may not stay that way. First, it is not alone, but is
orbiting a companion star in a typical binary system. And it is 1.15
times the mass of our Sun, which for a white dwarf is a whopper.

The system was first logged in 1993 but little attention was paid to it.
Then when Harvard student Karin Sandstrom investigated HR 8210 for a
college paper this year, she discovered that it is only just shy of the
Chandrasekar limit - the mass at which it would be big enough to go
supernova. That makes it the best and by far the closest supernova
candidate discovered so far.

The crunch will come when HR 8210's companion begins to run out of fuel.
As it expands to form a red giant star, its outer layers will be dumped
onto HR 8210, pushing it over the Chandrasekar limit. "Our initial idea
was that this might happen very soon," says Sandstrom's supervisor Dave
Latham.


Too close for comfort

But do not panic yet. "Very soon" could mean hundreds of millions of
years in the future. And that is just as well, because we are only 150
light years away from HR 8210 at present - well short of the 160 to 200
light years thought to be the minimum safe distance from a supernova. If
it did let fly, the high-energy electromagnetic radiation and cosmic
rays it released would destroy Earth's ozone layer within minutes,
giving life little chance of survival.


Subscribe to New Scientist for more news and features


Related Stories

Supernova "smoking gun" linked to mass extinctions
9 January 2002

Gamma ray bursts tied to supernovae
17 May 2002

Discovery of the most distant supernova strengthens case for dark energy
3 April 2001


For more related stories
search the print edition Archive



Weblinks

Astronomy, Harvard University

Space Telescope Science Institute

Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Supernovae, NASA



This would not be the first time a supernova has changed the course of
life on Earth. In 2001, Jesus Maiz-Apellaniz and colleagues from the
Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, found a
"smoking gun" supernova remnant, in the group of stars known as the
Scorpius- Centaurus association.

The timing of the supernova corresponds to an otherwise mysterious
deposit of heavy isotopes in deep Earth cores and to a mass marine
extinction two million years ago. At the time, Scorpius-Centaurus was
around twice as far away from Earth as HR 8210 is now.

Fortunately, it will take time for HR 8210 to accumulate the mass it
needs. Preliminary calculations by Rosanne di Stefano at the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center suggest this may take hundreds of millions of
years. By that time it will be much further away, she says, though she
still needs to confirm exactly how far. "I want to be sure I'm right."

But will similar stars threaten us before then? "The fact that there's
such a system so close to us suggests maybe these objects are not so
rare," says Latham.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992311

--

A picture one of the closest stars to our sun (making our sun our binary
star of sorts and confirming my prediction) can be seen he

http://www.cyberspaceorbit.com/indexback31.html

"Mad Scientist" wrote in message
news
Old article, but still relevant nonetheless.


We're all gonna die!! We're all gonna die!!

Only John Kerry can save us!!! We're all gonna die!!

Sorry, but nothing you post is relevant.

Astronomical calamities tend to be few and far apart. I'm not worried
about this one.

Saul Levy


On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 05:43:48 GMT, Mad Scientist
wrote:

Old article, but still relevant nonetheless.


Supernova poised to go off near Earth

10:30 23 May 02


A student at Harvard University has stumbled across the terrifying
spectacle of a star in our galactic backyard that is on the brink of
exploding in a supernova. It is so close that if it were to blow up
before moving away from us, it could wipe out life on Earth.

(Photo: SPL)

Most supernovae occur when large stars run out of fuel and then collapse
under their own weight. As atoms in the star are squeezed together, they
rebound outwards, blowing off energy in a dazzling and dangerous display
lasting several weeks.

But this one is different. Called HR 8210, it is a humble white dwarf, a
star that has run out of fuel and should be too small to produce a
supernova. But it may not stay that way. First, it is not alone, but is
orbiting a companion star in a typical binary system. And it is 1.15
times the mass of our Sun, which for a white dwarf is a whopper.

The system was first logged in 1993 but little attention was paid to it.
Then when Harvard student Karin Sandstrom investigated HR 8210 for a
college paper this year, she discovered that it is only just shy of the
Chandrasekar limit - the mass at which it would be big enough to go
supernova. That makes it the best and by far the closest supernova
candidate discovered so far.

The crunch will come when HR 8210's companion begins to run out of fuel.
As it expands to form a red giant star, its outer layers will be dumped
onto HR 8210, pushing it over the Chandrasekar limit. "Our initial idea
was that this might happen very soon," says Sandstrom's supervisor Dave
Latham.


Too close for comfort

But do not panic yet. "Very soon" could mean hundreds of millions of
years in the future. And that is just as well, because we are only 150
light years away from HR 8210 at present - well short of the 160 to 200
light years thought to be the minimum safe distance from a supernova. If
it did let fly, the high-energy electromagnetic radiation and cosmic
rays it released would destroy Earth's ozone layer within minutes,
giving life little chance of survival.


Subscribe to New Scientist for more news and features


Related Stories

Supernova "smoking gun" linked to mass extinctions
9 January 2002

Gamma ray bursts tied to supernovae
17 May 2002

Discovery of the most distant supernova strengthens case for dark energy
3 April 2001


For more related stories
search the print edition Archive



Weblinks

Astronomy, Harvard University

Space Telescope Science Institute

Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Supernovae, NASA



This would not be the first time a supernova has changed the course of
life on Earth. In 2001, Jesus Maiz-Apellaniz and colleagues from the
Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, found a
"smoking gun" supernova remnant, in the group of stars known as the
Scorpius- Centaurus association.

The timing of the supernova corresponds to an otherwise mysterious
deposit of heavy isotopes in deep Earth cores and to a mass marine
extinction two million years ago. At the time, Scorpius-Centaurus was
around twice as far away from Earth as HR 8210 is now.

Fortunately, it will take time for HR 8210 to accumulate the mass it
needs. Preliminary calculations by Rosanne di Stefano at the
Harvard-Smithsonian Center suggest this may take hundreds of millions of
years. By that time it will be much further away, she says, though she
still needs to confirm exactly how far. "I want to be sure I'm right."

But will similar stars threaten us before then? "The fact that there's
such a system so close to us suggests maybe these objects are not so
rare," says Latham.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992311

nightbat wrote

spam this wrote:

"Mad Scientist" wrote in message
news
Old article, but still relevant nonetheless.

We're all gonna die!! We're all gonna die!!

Only John Kerry can save us!!! We're all gonna die!!

nightbat

Not the way you think spam for Double-A and nightbat have a plan
to be in our underground silo observatories, so no surprise.


the nightbat

pay no attention to Mad Scientist he watches
way way too much TV and posts every "gloom and doom"
scenario he can find. I just filter him out (aka killfile).
Eric

Another worthless response from another usenet sociopath or should that
be fascist pig? Its a free world, people can think for themselves you know.

Eric wrote:

pay no attention to Mad Scientist he watches
way way too much TV and posts every "gloom and doom"
scenario he can find. I just filter him out (aka killfile).
Eric

"spam this" wrote in message
...

"Mad Scientist" wrote in message
news
Old article, but still relevant nonetheless.


We're all gonna die!! We're all gonna die!!

Only John Kerry can save us!!! We're all gonna die!!

Quick send me your scopes, 8'' aperture and up please. I will store them
safely for you. Until the cataclysm is over.

BV.