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The Nearest Supernova Candidate To Earth: IK Pegasi
The Bad Astronomer writes "What's the nearest star to Earth that can explode as a supernova? Spica, at 260 light years away, is the nearest massive star that can explode, but IK Pegasi — a Sirius-like binary composed of a normal star and a white dwarf — will also one day blow. At a distance of 150 light years, it's truly the closest supernova candidate. Happily, that's too far away to damage the Earth when it goes off — and it won't explode for millions of years at least, by which time it'll be even farther away. Either way, we're safe... for now."
So what? the nearest star that can explode as a supernova? What good will knowing that mean if it's millions of years away?
The RIGHT question is:
What's the closest star we can SEE with the naked EYE go supernova that has a reasonable chance of any of us slashdotters viewing in our lifetimes. That IS important as it matters to the average person who might just look up.
When you're standing 2 metres away from someone, and they say "hey, what are you doing now?", do you reply "did you mean 0.0000000066712819 seconds ago?"