What would be the impact of a near-Earth supernova?

Supernova is a star explosion It is extremely powerful and could cause serious damage to Earth if it got too close to the planet. A celestial body that falls into this category is a terminal star and this reaction takes place due to different chemical processes occurring in the stellar core. Eventually it turns into a supernova.

After many years of research in this field, researchers realized that supernovae do not occur all the time in the universe; Explosions from these cosmic objects typically occur only a few times per century, experts say. For example, one of the largest observations was made in mid-1987 while studying supernova SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.

“If a supernova had exploded about 30 light-years away from us, it would have had major effects on Earth, possibly leading to mass extinctions. Higher-energy x-rays and gamma rays from the supernova could destroy the ozone layer, which protects us from ultraviolet radiation rays. United States “They can also ionize nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere, which can lead to the formation of high amounts of nitrous oxide,” said Mark Reid, senior astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the United States.

Now, Science thinks Earth is somewhere safe in space, far from possible star explosions in the Milky Way or other galaxies. But other planets are not so safe, so it is important to study the effects of supernovae to understand the different effects they can cause.

Although an important object of study, a supernova wouldn’t be much fun if it were this close to Earth. After all, what would be the effect of a star exploding close to our planet?

Are supernovas a cosmic danger?

The best-known supernovae are ‘Type II’ supernovae, which have more than eight times the mass of the Sun and explode when the internal fuel produced in their cores runs out. ‘Type I’ supernovae occur in binary systems when a white dwarf runs out of fuel and begins accumulating cosmic material from its companion star. In other words, most stars are not large enough to be celestial objects in this category.

Astronomers claim that supernovae are some of the most intense and powerful events in the universe; Imagine a bomb eight times larger than the Sun exploding. The explosion is responsible for creating a shock wave that pushes star material thousands of kilometers.; This material could even initiate the development of other stars.

In a website article SpeechUniversity of Arizona astronomy professor Chris Impey explains: Supernovae would only have any impact on Earth if they were about 100 light-years away. Most catastrophic events occur in remote regions of space, but if they are close enough they can pose a major threat to living things.

Another study used data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory space telescope to analyze what the closest safe distance is between Earth and a supernova. Researchers found that a distance of at least 160 light-years was needed to avoid harmful effects caused by radiation from the explosion.

How might a supernova explosion affect Earth?

The First Big Problem of the Supernova Explosion This would be gamma ray radiation as it could damage the natural protection that exists around the Earth. However, if this actually happened on such a stellar object 100 light-years away, it would take about 100 years for the radiation to reach the planet.

If a supernova occurred just 30 light years away, the ozone layer would be almost completely destroyed by radiation; This is a reaction that could wipe out marine life on Earth and possibly lead to another mass extinction. Scientists believe that this happened several times on Earth thousands of years ago, but it has not yet been possible to collect direct evidence for the hypothesis.

In a hypothetical situation When the sun explodes like a supernova, The temperature of the planet will rise to about 15 times the normal temperature of the solar surface, and the entire side facing the solar structure will evaporate.. At some point it would leave Earth orbit and begin wandering through space. Fortunately, the Sun does not fit into the category required to go supernova.

“The spectacular bursts of energy associated with supernovae (SNe) have long motivated research into their potentially hazardous effects on Earth and similar environments… We call for follow-up x-ray observations of interacting SNe in the months and years after the explosion to ensure that the physical emission is shed light on its nature and full-time evolution and clarify the danger that these events pose to life in our galaxy and other star-forming regions,” describes a study published in the scientific journal The Astrophysical Journey.

Did you like the content? Read other curiosities about supernovae at TecMundo. If you wish, take the opportunity to understand how Novas, Supernovas, Hypernovas and Kilonovas arise.