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The Nearest Supernova Candidate To Earth: IK Pegasi

Posted by Soulskill on from the universe-is-a-crazy-place dept.

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."

11 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Okay... we're safe. Next question... by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 2

    Sure, but remember to be careful with your remaining eye.

  2. Are We Zoned For This? by avgjoe62 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'll have to go down to the local planning office in Alpha Centauri and see if they've got a permit for a supernova that close to the planned hyperspace bypass...

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    How come Slashdot never gets Slashdotted?

  3. Holy Shit Batman! by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

    Wow! Thank Gawd for that! I mean, I can finally sleep at night again knowing we won't be roasted by a supernova. Truly that loomed the largest of all for me, right after the thought that my house sat on top of a supervolcano. How could I survive that? I'm not Pierce Brosnan after all.

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    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    1. Re:Holy Shit Batman! by Titan1080 · · Score: 2

      Agreed. I will die very unhappy if at least 1 of 2 things don't happen in my lifetime. #1 contact with extraterrestrials. #2 witnessing a massive supernova.

    2. Re:Holy Shit Batman! by khallow · · Score: 2

      The letter to management will be very severe!

    3. Re:Holy Shit Batman! by Random+Data · · Score: 2

      640 ly ought to be enough for anyone

  4. Eta Carinae and the definition of near by Weaselmancer · · Score: 2

    I thought Eta Carinae was the one we were supposed to worry about. It blew off an outer layer in the 1800's. It's supermassive and it is due to go any moment now. In fact it may have already blown and we're just waiting for the news.

    And near can mean a few different things in space. Which would you prefer, being a foot away from a firecracker or a mile away from a nuclear bomb?

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    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
    1. Re:Eta Carinae and the definition of near by gstrickler · · Score: 2

      At 7500+ LY, we'll have a good view, but we don't need to worry about it going SN. Now, if it collapses into a black hole that happens to point a gamma ray jet directly at us, we might have something to worry about.

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    2. Re:Eta Carinae and the definition of near by VortexCortex · · Score: 2

      Which would you prefer, being a foot away from a firecracker or a mile away from a nuclear bomb?

      What kind of firecracker? I'm going with the nuke since my doctor says I should say away from salt... I should be safe in my bunker a mile underground, where the crackers are unsalted.

    3. Re:Eta Carinae and the definition of near by BobNET · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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?"

  5. Still in danger by Plekto · · Score: 2

    The issue isn't the physical damage from the expanding nebula but the intense energy (mostly gamma-ray) burst that happens when the star collapses. Basically anything within a few hundred light years gets hammered by a shotgun of energy if it's aligned with the poles of the star.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst

    http://f64.nsstc.nasa.gov/gbm/
    More reading on our monitoring attempts, though anything that would hit us would be noticed pretty much about the time it hit us.