Request for expert advice on Sci Fi story premise

I'd like some opinion on the following sci fi story plot premise. In the
story a nearby supanova is going to have a catastrophic effect on the
earth's atmosphere. I am considering that a type Ia supernova could occur
in almost any random star within about 30LY and cause very nasty gamma ray
and x-ray radiation to bombard the atmosphere. Is it feasible that there
could be an undetected white dwarf companion star to one of the stars within
this sort of range? I've read scientific papers that suggest there could be
quite a lot of undetected white dwarfs out there.

Rich Woods

Wasn't it Crayfish who wrote:
I'd like some opinion on the following sci fi story plot premise. In the
story a nearby supanova is going to have a catastrophic effect on the
earth's atmosphere. I am considering that a type Ia supernova could occur
in almost any random star within about 30LY and cause very nasty gamma ray
and x-ray radiation to bombard the atmosphere. Is it feasible that there
could be an undetected white dwarf companion star to one of the stars within
this sort of range? I've read scientific papers that suggest there could be
quite a lot of undetected white dwarfs out there.

My guess would be that there could be quite a lot of undetected
*isolated* white dwarfs out there, but planet hunters have been looking
for wobbles in the spectra of just all the nearby stars. A close
companion white dwarf would produce a huge fast wobble that would be
glaringly obvious to anyone looking for planets.

Large numbers of nearby white dwarf companion stars have been detected
spectroscopically, so you could look through one of the on-line
spectroscopic white dwarf catalogues for one that looks like it might be
ready to pop.

--
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure

"Mike Williams" wrote in message
Large numbers of nearby white dwarf companion stars have been detected
spectroscopically, so you could look through one of the on-line
spectroscopic white dwarf catalogues for one that looks like it might be
ready to pop.

Thanks Mike, thats exactly the sort of information I'm looking for.

Rich