What would happen to Earth if the Sun or the Moon exploded?

Answer 1

If the Sun exploded, it's almost certain that the explosion would be of significant enough scope to destroy the Earth and Moon. On the off change that it wasn't, though, people on Earth would see the explosion 8.3 minutes later. After that, there would either be no more light and we would soon die from the cold (if the Sun left no remnant), or there would be devastating radiation that would soon kill us (if the Sun left a pulsar or some other electromagnetically active remnant). If the Sun were completely gone at that point, the Earth would move tangentially to its former orbit, in whatever direction it was already traveling, because it wouldn't have the gravity of the Sun to keep it moving in a circle. It is possible that the Earth would fall into orbit around Jupiter or the Jupiter-Saturn binary, but it's more likely that Earth would move away from the other planets until falling into orbit around another star when it passed close enough.

If the Moon exploded, the Earth would mostly likely be hit by at least a few lunar asteroids, which would probably be pretty devastating. Some large chunks of the Moon would probably continue to orbit the Earth, some in stable orbits and some in decaying orbits that would lead their eventuall breakup or collision with Earth. The Earth might also aquire a ring system made of smaller debris fragments and particles. The Earth would have very different tides from what it has now. Currently, tides caused by the Moon are twice as strong caused by the Sun. But with the Moon gone, the Sun's tides would dominate. However, the Sun's tides wouldn't be any stronger than they are now, so the effect of tides overall would be diminished. It's possible but unlikely that oribiting chunks of the Moon would have a significant contribution to the tides. With the Moon gone, it's possible that the Earth's orbital tilt would become less stable than it has been for the past 4.5 billion years.

Answer 2

Moon's explosion which is located at 1/4 million miles may not cause much damage to Earth except that it would pollute the surroundings with debris which would be a factor to reckon with for future space explorations.We would of course be devoid of beautiful moon-lit nights which have inspired many.On the other hand Sun's explosion will be more than a catastrophe. Despite a distance of 93 million miles the radiation(it would be an atomic explosion) will bring large devastation. With Sun gone there would of course be no light and the plant life would perish followed by all life on Earth. The temperatures would drop and Earth would probably be a frozen mass. While all this goes on having lost its driver the planet would as per Newton's first law would continue its sojourn in a straight line in the dark space may be for a long time until it enters the gravitational field of another star.Depending on its orbital distance things would change shape. The ice caps would melt and if conditions are congenial the life forms might take shape. This is the familiar thought process as we can conceive of as far as we know.

Answer 3

Do I get to pick which one?
Sun - bad, very bad. Depending on the type/intensity/duration of explosion, we could be incinerated very quickly, or we could slowly freeze, starve and die. If it were a slow explosion, it would probably get hotter and more bright before it became colder and dark. We'd burn up a little, it'd be uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as watching all the plants die and realising we had no food. Fungus aren't as proliferant as we'd hope.
I have a hunch our final destruction could take some time. And we would be very uncomfortable in the wait. Our solar system in general wouldn't fare too well ... not orbiting around something could cause some serious universal issues.
Moon - no tides would be weird, the oceans would not move. there would be no currents and the oceans may become dark fetid depths of decay.

Astrology and astronomy would go bust, a lot of the black arts wouldn't stand a chance.
The tear in space time could be pretty bad for us too, we may get sucked into an explosion of that magnitude and be obliterated quite rapidly.

Solar flares are kind of like mini sun explosions .. and we can observe their repurcussions here on Earth. A few years ago there were people who blamed global warming entirely on solar flares. A single explosion to destroy the sun or moon would take an f' load of energy. We'd fare better with a heap of mini explosions.

My question is - what would happen if they *both* imploded.

Answer 4

Obviously if the Sun exploded the whole solar system would be destroyed. If the moon exploded there would be a lot of large meteors. It's hard to say because you don't know where much of the mass of the moon would go. However, I don't think the moon exploding would be as deadly as normal meteors because they would most likely not be moving as fast and thus dispersing less energy when they impact the Earth.

Answer 5

If the sun exploded, we would all prob. die. Because 1, it could hit the Earth, and 2 we would freeze with the darkness. And i am pretty sure there would be no effect if the Moon exploded, other then a possibility of it hitting the earth.

Answer 6

If the sun exploded, we would be nothing more than a cinder. If the moon exploded, earth's surface would be hit by many pieces of the moon. I suppose it could create the complete annihilation of life on earth.

Answer 7

If either of them exploded earth would be destroyed. The universe is a very sensitive place for all it's size, objects relating to other objects.

Answer 8

if the sun exploded we would have no light and everything would eventually die

if the moon exploded there would be no tides in the ocean

Answer 9

We would be hurled into space and freeze or just we burned up. If the moon exploded then we would die from the chunks that would come to us.

Answer 10

if the sun exploded,we would all die. because the earth would be to cold to survive.but that wont happen in our lifetime.