whatr are the effects of a supernova explosion on the Earth?

Question

Let's say that there's a huge supernova explosion in our galaxy....What are the the immediate and long term effects of that?? and in what distance range does the supernova have to be to make any effects on Earth??

Answer 1

A supernova happens when a star explodes. The closest star to Earth is the sun and it will never supernova because it does not have enough mass.

Scientists have recently predicted that the next star in our galaxy most likely to supernova is Rho Cassiopeiae, which is located 10,000 light-years (5,87849981 × 10^13 miles) away from Earth. That's way too far away to have any affect on us.

Answer 2

I have to disagree with MataHari. Betelgeuse located in the constellation Orion is about 427 light years away and will suffer a type II supernova (some think in as few as 1000 years). If the axis were pointed at Earth when the type II occurs, we will have noticeable effects here due to gamma radiation with possible ozone drops and spectacular aurora. The red giant phase usually lasts some time, so don't expect to see this in your lifetime.

Mati - I appreciate your source, but one thing that is always important to remember is that groups of scientists claim lots of things that not all agree on. I offered Betelgeuse because I've seen many sources that argue a type II soon. I agree your source is interesting, but I'd need to see more than a tertiary article from Scientific American (I will look though, so thanks for the heads-up).

Answer 3

Supernovae emit large amounts of high energy radiation. This sort of radiation is bombarding Earth constantly (we call it cosmic rays). However, the atmosphere protects us from it exceedingly well.

Calculation indicate that a supernova would have to be withing 30 light years of Earth to cause harm at the Earth's surface. No stars in this range have sufficient mass to nova.

Answer 4

Supernova explosion is a stage in life of giant stars where they get bulged and explode.During this they throw away a great part of their mass.The mass is scattered in all possible directions with all possible velocities which usually very high.
If such an explosion takes place in our galaxy,that perticular star starts appearing many times brighter.It can be even seen in daytimes as sun.It's like having second smaller sun for few days or weeks you see.. The earth will receive various kinds of other radiation also. Find more in book 'THE BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME' by S. Hauking. Good luck....

Answer 5

A very close supernova (say, hundreds of light years) could theoretically destroy the ozone layer from its gamma rays. This would occur very rarely, perhaps every 100 million years or so. It has been hypothesized as a possible cause of some great extinction events.