by Redaktors » 03 Aug 2009, 17:14
"It is possible that Betelgeuse will become a supernova, which will be the brightest ever recorded, outshining the Moon in the night sky. Considering its size and age of 8.5 million years, old for its size class, it may explode within the next thousand years. Since its rotational axis is not toward the Earth and also because of its 640 light year distance, Betelgeuse's supernova will not cause a gamma ray burst in the direction of Earth large enough to damage its ecosystem."
"The real problems would come if a supernova erupted within about 40 or 50 light years............
The first we'd know of it, would be a star suddenly brightening - within 20 or 30 mins it would be brighter than the full moon, bright enough to cast shadows at night.
Astronomers all over the world would be wetting themselves with excitement (the last naked-eye supernova was 400 years ago) - but the excitement would be short lived...
Gamma radiation travels as fast as light, so, as we were seeing this event, the accompanying Gamma radiation would be ionizing the upper atmosphere, and would quite quickly send out cascades of high-speed electrons, creating intense magnetic fields, and generating a fierce electromagnetic pulse (EMP), similar to the EMP generated by a nuclear bomb, only much stronger.
Electronics all over the world would be fried - cars would 'die' on the roads - air traffic control systems would suddenly fail, planes would fall out of the sky - computers all over the world would be rendered useless. Within minutes, thousands would have died from transport accidents (Cars/planes/trains etc)
The Gamma and X-rays would be followed close-behind by a wave of protons, travelling at close to the speed of light, which would swamp our magnetic field, react with the chemicals in the upper atmosphere, and strip us completely of the ozone layer.
With all electronics, and computer systems dead - there would be chaos - no power, economic systems would collapse - and with no ozone the Earth would be baked by the Sun's UV radiation - It wouldn't be safe to go outside during daylight - and UV-related cancers would be rife.
These would only be minor irritations though - because the UV radiation would kill plantlife worldwide, and marine life soon afterwards - sending a starvation cascade up through the food chain, which wouldn't stop until it reaches the top...........us!
Don't worry though - currently there aren't any stars near enough to us that may go supernova - so it ain't gonna happen to Earth any time soon - if ever."
Betelgeize sprāgs skaisti... kad nu mums to izdosies ieraudzīt, bet pārāk tālu, lai tiešām "apdraudētu" Zemi. Kas zina, varbūt jau ir uzsprāgusi...