• Question: What would happen if the sun went super nova?

    Asked by 326nepk48 to Ed, Kerrianne, Nina, Oli, yoyehudi on 13 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Yo Yehudi

      Yo Yehudi answered on 13 Nov 2017:

      Well, the good news is that it’s not due for ages and ages – literally, it’s billions of years away. The less good news? part of the process of our sun dying is that it will engulf Earth. If humanity still exists by that time, hopefully we’ll have figured out how to move out of the danger zone! Check out all of the interesting ways the bbc has suggested earth might end: (includes the sun expanding!) http://www.bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20150323-how-long-will-life-on-earth-last

    • Photo: Kerrianne Harrington

      Kerrianne Harrington answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      Supernova is an explosion of a massive star, so you can imagine the amount of energy is beyond imagination. If the sun went supernova, that would be catastrophic for us. It could throw out material towards us at 10% the speed of light, followed by a shock wave. The earth would definitely be destroyed. The whole solar system would be in trouble.

      For more context, Pluto is over 330 light minutes away from the Sun. To be a ‘safe’ distance away from a supernova, you would need to 50 light YEARS away.

      Even if the supernova went off that was not close enough to cause us catastrophic damage, the explosion would shower us with high energy radiation, which can cause lots problems for us.

    • Photo: Oli Wilson

      Oli Wilson answered on 14 Nov 2017:

      I guess we would have a very, very sad time – and Yo and Kerrianne’s answers have convinced me that’s right! I think the Sun might perhaps be too small to go supernova, but given it’ll eventually swallow up the Earth anyway I don’t think that’s much comfort…

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