It takes 8 mins for the sunlight to reach the earth's surface. So if the sun were 2 blow up, would we have 8 mins 2 live? Would we be engulfed in the fiery aftermath?
2006-08-11 16:30:11 · 12 answers · asked by jai 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
If the sun were to "blow up," we would see the explosion quite some time before the heat wave and the impact reached us.
If "blow up," means "convert to a thermonuclear explosion," we would see a flash of light in 8 minutes. Lots of people would be blinded, and it would remind you of "Day of the Triffids." Then it would actually get darker and colder here.
If the thermonuclear blast disrupted the normal mass conversion that takes place in the sun, the solar wind, visible light, and heat would be reduced to a tiny fraction of what we get now.
The impact wave and the flame front would travel at only about 45,000 mph, which means it would take about 86 days before the whole planet was smacked like a bug on the windshield.
So Jerry Falwell would have 12 weeks and 2 days to blame gays, commies, and liberals before he was turned into red splat.
2006-08-11 17:41:53 · answer #1 · answered by aviophage 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The nearest star is Proxima Centauri, more than 4 light years away - so, the light we see coming from it left Proxima's surface more then 4 years ago. Sirius, one of the brightest stars in our sky is about 8.1 light years away - so, we're seeing it as it was 8 years ago. And, it's not distance that determines how far our eye can see, but how bright something is. We can see (barely) the fuzzy Andromeda Galaxy with our eye, and it's more the 2.2 *million* light years away. So, if something happens *right now* to a star you're looking at - we won't get the news of what happened until the light from the event finally arrives here on Earth.
2016-03-26 22:31:18 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes but the sun is too small a star to become a supernova, so that is not going to happen, according to our current understanding of the stellar evolution of Main Sequence stars.
A supernova is a stellar explosion that produces an extremely bright object made of plasma that declines to invisibility over weeks or months.
There are several different types of supernovae and two possible routes to their formation. A massive star may cease to generate fusion energy from fusing the nuclei of atoms in its core and collapse inward under the force of its own gravity to form a neutron star or black hole, or a white dwarf star may accumulate material from a companion star until it nears its Chandrasekhar limit and undergoes runaway nuclear fusion in its interior, completely disrupting it
In either case, the resulting supernova explosion expels much or all of the stellar material with great force.
The explosion drives a blast wave into the surrounding space, forming a supernova remnant.
So, this is not a career option for a middle-aged G2 star like the Sun. We are not a giant star, Nor at the moment have we evolved into a white dwarf, though we will do so in about 5 billion years time, after a red giant phase lasting some 100 million years or so.
But even then we don't have a companion star from which to absorb material, do we? So I think you can sleep more easily in your bed tonight!
2006-08-11 20:11:48 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
If the Sun exploded right now (not gonna happen, but that's a different story) then we wound't have a clue about it for 8 minutes. Once we saw stuff from the Sun heading our way, it would take a little while before it burned us to a crisp. Exactly how long depends on the force of the explosion*, but I think it would ruin our atmosphere first, before any material even reaches Earth itself.
*Solar flares take 2-4 days to reach Earth.
2006-08-11 17:01:02 · answer #4 · answered by kris 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If the sun were to up and go nova, the radiation shock wave would reach us at 8 min....according to the theory of relativity, whatever happens to the sun, whether it turns into a black hole, a nova, or a comquat, will not affect earth until 8 minutes later due to the constraints of space-time in general relativity. Our end would be much faster if we were fried, whereas if we were to go into a 'deep freeze', things would be a little more tricky.
2006-08-11 17:24:50 · answer #5 · answered by swilliamrex 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You'd have a little longer. Except for one minor detail. You would have less time for warning. Radiation and heat from the blast would reach the earth at the same time the flash of the blast so by the time you realized what had happened you'd be incinerated.
2006-08-11 16:57:47 · answer #6 · answered by Roadkill 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Nope. The light would travel that fast, but it's the ejected material that would do the most damage (assuming the cause of the explosion didn't release massive amounts of radiation) so we'd have to sit around and wait for it all to get here. Depending on the speed, it may take weeks.
2006-08-11 16:41:12 · answer #7 · answered by cmriley1 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Sunlight travels at ...you guessed it, at the speed of light. Fragments of the sun itself would probably not travel that fast.
As far as a fiery aftermath, I think we would freeze to death without the sun's heat to warm our planet.
2006-08-11 16:36:14 · answer #8 · answered by OLDSMOBOMB 1996 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Less time than that. You're talking about normal solar emissions. The intensity of the explosion would result in a shorter time.
2006-08-11 16:52:58 · answer #9 · answered by Chris 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋
you would have slightly longer than 8 mins. fire and radiation travel slower than the speed of light. --yes we would die in a firey ball of flame.
2006-08-11 16:36:43 · answer #10 · answered by scott s 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋