Star close to us in milkyway ready to go supernova?

i heard on a video, some few months ago, that there is a star (i believe its here in the milkyway) that is getting ready to go (i believe its called---->) supernova. it was said that when it does, it will be so bright, we would be able to see it in broad daylight, and we would see it for about a week straight. also, that it could happen in the next few years, or few centries, weeks, maybe even in the next few seconds.
i was wondering if anyone knew anything about it, if its true, just something.

[edit on 15-12-2004 by azdude1804]

Yeah quite possible, one happened in our galaxy a few hundred years ago, records showing how you could see this other bright spot during the day, id assume it would be on the same kind of brightness as the moon would be when you can see it during the day.

You have to take into account the pure distance! It might have already happened and we havent seen the light from the Supernova yet!

yes, i do remember the video saying that there was one sevral hundred years ago. but i was really excited to hear about this, and hoping (that its true) that it would happen in my lifetime. ive never really seen much of a show from the universe, except i think 2 commets, one being hail/bob (or something like that), some meteor showers (in which were not at all good, being in the city), of course lunar eclipses (i believe i was alive when the last solar eclipse happend, but of course, no where near me.) and then there was the alignment of all the planets. but i think that if this were to happen, it would be most spectacular!

Originally posted by PanzerDiv
You have to take into account the pure distance! It might have already happened and we havent seen the light from the Supernova yet!

yes, absolutly true. i spaced that fact out. but i do believe that it is one of the closest stars to us. yes it would take time to get to us (meaning, it could have happend already, as u said, and havent seen it yet), but if its as close as it was said (which i dont know, just know that i think its close), we still might see it someday.

[edit on 15-12-2004 by azdude1804]

Close to us? We can observe novae often, but most are far away. A nova is just like a hydrogen bomb, and you do not want one to explode 'nearby'. We appear to be safe right now, but many of the brighter 'nearby' stars are of a type that can become novae in the (far?) future. Try this link for more info. Another reason we need to be colonizing in and on every planet and moon we can get to. Question: would the radiation pulse from a nearby hypernova last long enough to sterilize the entire planet, or just one hemisphere?

[edit on 15-12-2004 by Chakotay]

I remember a documentry i watched that said if a supernova would occur within 25 lightyears of earth, That the earth would Fry!

They are just saying we are about past due for a supernova in this area. It is saying that One could possible appear at any time. Which is true for almost everyting in space....

BUT what a super nova is- A star that has used up all its hydrogen fuel swells into a red giant and begins to fuse heilum. WHen the heilum begins to run out the star begins to teter on teh bring of distruction because it cannot sustain the fusion of heiver elements such as carbon. WHen the star can no long support fusionof any kind it esplodes blasting all the elements it has fused in its core into space and releaseing huge quanities of gass and dust.

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Would we be hit by a neutrino burst prior to seeing the explosion?
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I think you are talking about Betelgeuse...

Scientists have speculated that if Betelgeuse should go Supernova then it might affect us here on earth. However there is some controversy about just how much of an effect a supernova can have at roughly 100 light year distance. Some say we would see spectacular aurura borealis, some say we would become extinct(at least those of us that stayed on the surface). or the final theory is absolutely nothing. I'm in the camp where it will fall somwhere between Aurora and an ELE. Maybe it wont be an ELE for us but maybe for alot of other creatures yes.

I dont think it would kill us. I think itll just be one hell of a light show. Just to clarify how bright would it be. Will it be like a sun and turn the night into day or just look like a bigger star? What if we`re on the wrong side of the sun and we miss it? That would suck I want to c this bad boy

I dont think it would kill us. I think itll just be one hell of a light show. Just to clarify how bright would it be. Will it be like a sun and turn the night into day or just look like a bigger star? What if we`re on the wrong side of the sun and we miss it? That would suck I want to c this bad boy

While we know a good amount about stars and such I doubt we really know what would happen if one where to go off close 'n large... We only have 'theories' about what we THINK would happen...

Also, it wouldn�t be like a 2nd Sun in the sky but more like a super bright star. Just brighter then the average star, by a few times...

If the Sun was in the way we most likely would still be able to see it when our orbit adjusted because the light would still be scattering. Keep in mind that Betelgeuse is about 425 or so light years away so we wouldn�t see the event until ~425 years after it happened. Who knows, it may have happened 424 years ago . but if it hasn�t gone yet only the ones alive now that get cryogenically frozen or get life lengthening treatment wont be around to see it...

Originally posted by ChrisRT


If the Sun was in the way we most likely would still be able to see it when our orbit adjusted because the light would still be scattering. Keep in mind that Betelgeuse is about 425 or so light years away so we wouldn�t see the event until ~425 years after it happened. Who knows, it may have happened 424 years ago

. but if it hasn�t gone yet only the ones alive now that get cryogenically frozen or get life lengthening treatment wont be around to see it...

Thats not true, your thinking the wrong way round, it would just mean it actually happened 425 years ago and we can only see it starting to blow up now.

Here's very good information about supernovas:
curious.astro.cornell.edu...

Anatomy of a Supernova

Stars of all masses spend the majority of their lives fusing hydrogen nuclei into helium nuclei: we call this stage the main sequence. When all of the hydrogen in the central regions of a star is converted into helium, the star will begin to "burn" helium into carbon. However, the helium in the stellar core will eventually run out as well; so in order to survive, a star must be hot enough to fuse progressively heavier elements, as the lighter ones become exhausted one by one. Stars heavier than about 5 times the mass of the Sun can do this with no problem: they burn hydrogen, and then helium, and then carbon, oxygen, silicon, and so on... until they attempt to fuse iron. Iron is special in that it is the lightest element in the periodic table that doesn't release energy when you attempt to fuse it together. In fact, instead of giving you energy, you end up with less energy than you started with! This means that instead of generating additional pressure to hold up the now extended outer layers of the aging star, the iron fusion actually takes thermal energy from the stellar core. Thus, there is nothing left to combat the ever-present force of gravity from these outer layers. The result: collapse! The lack of radiation pressure generated by the iron-fusing core causes the outer layers to fall towards the centre of the star. This implosion happens very, very quickly: it takes about 15 seconds to complete. During the collapse, the nuclei in the outer parts of the star are pushed very close together, so close that elements heavier than iron are formed.

What happens next depends on the mass of the star. Stars with masses between about 5 and 8 times the mass of our Sun form neutron stars during the implosion: the nuclei in the central regions are pushed close enough together to form a very dense neutron core. The outer layers bounce off this core, and a catastrophic explosion ensues: this is the visible part of the supernova. Stars with masses greater than about 10 times the mass of the Sun meet a very different fate. The collapse of the outer regions of the star is so forceful that not even a neutron star can support itself against the pressure of the infalling material. In fact, no physical force is strong enough to counter the collapse: the supernova creates a black hole, or a region of spacetime that is so small and so dense that not even light can escape from its clutches. In this case, the details of how the ensuing explosion actually occurs have still to be worked out. Observationally, supernovae are found by patiently observing the sky and looking for bright objects where there were none before. At its peak luminosity, the supernova resulting from a single star may be bright enough to outshine an entire galaxy.

If Betelgeuze explodes in supernova which produces GRB directed to Earth in that case it might definitely "fry" earth, GRBs show so well even from "other side" of universe.
But normal non-directional supernova propably couldn't cause much damage.

The conclusion seems to be that a supernova would need to be within tens or hundreds of light-years from us to cause significant damage to the Earth and life on our planet.

As for the damage that a supernova would cause, the x-ray and gamma ray light emitted by the supernova would probably be our biggest concern. Without the Earth's atmosphere to protect us, x-rays and gamma rays can do significant damage to the molecules that make up living organisms. And supernovae do put out a huge number of x-rays and gamma rays; even if a supernova is thousands of light years away, it will still dump gamma rays on us at a faster rate than the sun does during its most active periods (i.e. when it is undergoing solar flares).

Luckily, though, our atmosphere easily protects us against solar flares and would probably do a good job against much larger gamma ray fluxes as well. You'd have to get to the point where the gamma ray flux was so high that it was destroying a significant percentage of the molecules in the protective layer of our atmosphere before you could really say that the supernova was damaging our environment.

curious.astro.cornell.edu...

Originally posted by azdude1804
ive never really seen much of a show from the universe, except i think 2 comets, one being hail/bob (or something like that)...

Hyakutake and Hale-Bob. Later went past earth from ten times as far as Hyakutake, if Hale-Bob would had gone as close as Hyakutake it would have been huge "show".

Yeah quite possible, one happened in our galaxy a few hundred years ago, records showing how you could see this other bright spot during the day, id assume it would be on the same kind of brightness as the moon would be when you can see it during the day.

Yep, and likely one a couple thousand years ago. Maybe you heard the story?, three desert travelers follow it and find a baby born in a barn or something....

Thats not true, your thinking the wrong way round, it would just mean it actually happened 425 years ago and we can only see it starting to blow up now.

That is what I said. Also, it wouldn�t have the same luminance as our Moon...

Originally posted by slank
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Would we be hit by a neutrino burst prior to seeing the explosion?
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i wouldnt think so, this video didnt say that we would be hit by anything, and when it talked about the one that was in the sky sevral hundred years ago (the explosion that is) they didnt say anything there either

Originally posted by Croat56
I dont think it would kill us. I think itll just be one hell of a light show. Just to clarify how bright would it be. Will it be like a sun and turn the night into day or just look like a bigger star? What if we`re on the wrong side of the sun and we miss it? That would suck I want to c this bad boy

i would have to agree, it would be one he(( of a show.

Also, it wouldn�t be like a 2nd Sun in the sky but more like a super bright star. Just brighter then the average star, by a few times...

in response, also to croat56, and to what was said above... no it wouldnt be like a normal sun. the video said that it would be bright enough to cast showdows on eveything (for example, like the moon does), but i wouldnt know what color. the video used some sort of redish purple color.

Originally posted by ChrisRT
If the Sun was in the way we most likely would still be able to see it when our orbit adjusted because the light would still be scattering. Keep in mind that Betelgeuse is about 425 or so light years away so we wouldn�t see the event until ~425 years after it happened. Who knows, it may have happened 424 years ago

. but if it hasn�t gone yet only the ones alive now that get cryogenically frozen or get life lengthening treatment wont be around to see it...

i think ur wrong about the years there buddy. i think i might be getting a little confused. but if it was 425 lightyears away, then it would be, probably thousands of years before we saw it, because 1 lightyear equals 4 earth years. so what ever amount of lightyears u have, quadruple it in earth years.