Comments on: Dis-aster coming in 2022 https://habitablezone.com/2017/01/10/dis-aster-coming-in-2022/ Sun, 05 Apr 2026 21:05:37 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: hank https://habitablezone.com/2017/01/10/dis-aster-coming-in-2022/#comment-37967 hank Wed, 11 Jan 2017 01:20:34 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=61107#comment-37967 BTW, I did get far enough to read this is going to be a "ten thousand fold increase" in the stars's brightness. That sounds like a regular nova, not a supernova, although both can be the result of a stellar collision. A supernova is billions of times brighter than the original star, it can outshine the entire galaxy where it occurs. BTW, I did get far enough to read this is going to be a “ten thousand fold increase” in the stars’s brightness. That sounds like a regular nova, not a supernova, although both can be the result of a stellar collision.

A supernova is billions of times brighter than the original star, it can outshine the entire galaxy where it occurs.

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2017/01/10/dis-aster-coming-in-2022/#comment-37966 RL Wed, 11 Jan 2017 01:14:34 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=61107#comment-37966 I got no ads there... I got no ads there…

]]> By: hank https://habitablezone.com/2017/01/10/dis-aster-coming-in-2022/#comment-37965 hank Wed, 11 Jan 2017 01:00:34 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=61107#comment-37965 It will be the first visible SN in our Galaxy since Kepler's SN about 400 years ago. SN's occur at the rate of about 1/century/galaxy, but most of them in our own Milky Way are invisible because of interstellar obscuration. (Obscuring dust in the galactic plane doesn't let us see more than a few thousand ly at low galactic latitudes.) We usually see several SN's every year, but they are all in EXTERNAL galaxies. To get a chance at getting a light curve and a spectrum of a nearby event, from its earliest hours, is very exciting. A SN is the most violent explosion that can occur in a single star, it is a laboratory for producing physical conditions that cannot be duplicated anywhere else. It gives us a chance to see, close-up, processes we cannot even imagine. And this one will probably give us gravity waves, neutrino winds, all sorts of other manifestations, too. If it is bright enough to be noticeable to the casual observer (Kepler event could be seen in broad daylight) then there is going to be all kinds of apocalyptic, end-time talk going around. It will be fun. In a related note, the website you pointed me to was so filled with advertising it locked up on me, and I couldn't read the whole story. Then suddenly, I got a pop-up ad for an ad-blocker! What nerve. I really am starting to hate these bastards. It will be the first visible SN in our Galaxy since Kepler’s SN about 400 years ago. SN’s occur at the rate of about 1/century/galaxy, but most of them in our own Milky Way are invisible because of interstellar obscuration. (Obscuring dust in the galactic plane doesn’t let us see more than a few thousand ly at low galactic latitudes.)

We usually see several SN’s every year, but they are all in EXTERNAL galaxies. To get a chance at getting a light curve and a spectrum of a nearby event, from its earliest hours, is very exciting. A SN is the most violent explosion that can occur in a single star, it is a laboratory for producing physical conditions that cannot be duplicated anywhere else. It gives us a chance to see, close-up, processes we cannot even imagine. And this one will probably give us gravity waves, neutrino winds, all sorts of other manifestations, too.

If it is bright enough to be noticeable to the casual observer (Kepler event could be seen in broad daylight) then there is going to be all kinds of apocalyptic, end-time talk going around. It will be fun.

In a related note, the website you pointed me to was so filled with advertising it locked up on me, and I couldn’t read the whole story. Then suddenly, I got a pop-up ad for an ad-blocker! What nerve.

I really am starting to hate these bastards.

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