Earth 'to be wiped out' by supernova explosion

[SSL]

Earth 'to be wiped out' by supernova explosion

The Earth could soon be wiped out by the explosion of a star more than 3,000 light years away, according to American scientists.

The star, called T Pyxidis, is set to self-destruct in an explosion called a supernova with the force of 20 billion billion billion megatons of TNT.

Although the star is thought to be around 3,260 light-years away – a fairly short distance in galactic terms – the blast from the thermonuclear explosion could strip away the Earth's ozone layer, the scientists said.



Astronomers from Villanova University, Philadelphia, in the US, said the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite has shown them that T Pyxidis is really two stars, one called a white dwarf that is sucking in gas and steadily growing. When it reaches a critical mass it will blow itself to pieces.

It will become as bright as all the other stars in the galaxy put together, they said. The Hubble space telescope has photographed the star preparing for its big bang with a series of smaller blasts or "burps", called novas.

These explosions came regularly about every 20 years from 1890 – but stopped after 1967.

So the next blast is nearly 20 years overdue, said scientists Edward M Sion, Patrick Godon and Timothy McClain at the American Astronomical Society in Washington.

Robin Scagell, vice-president of the UK's Society for Popular Astronomy, said: "The star may certainly became a supernova soon – but soon could still be a long way off so don't have nightmares."

 

[Beau]

Article was from here - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6940111/Earth-to-be-wiped-out-by-supernova-explosion.html

And a response to it here - http://news.discovery.com/space/will-earth-really-be-wiped-out-by-a-local-supernova.html - which sounds like a "don't worry, everything's ok, go back to sleep" response:

It's very easy to get worried when you hear that a star could explode "with the force of 20 billion billion billion megatons of TNT" and the explosion is going to detonate so close to us that it "could strip away the Earth's ozone layer."

However, when the news source also states this supernova could happen 'soon,' we suddenly have an imminent doomsday event in the offing! Stock your lead-lined bunker now! Buy as many cans of baked beans as you can carry!

As with many astronomical meetings, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) conference currently underway in Washington D.C. is presenting some astonishing, cutting edge research from the world's best scientists. However, often this research can sound a bit scary. For example, the energies associated with supernovae and gamma-ray bursts will do more than simply singe your eyebrows off, these events can decimate entire star systems.

Enter the UK's Telegraph, with an article entitled, "Earth 'to be wiped out' by supernova explosion." One would think that by making such a statement, the journalist must have found a fairly compelling piece of evidence that suggests global doom?

Not so much.

The article is referring to research presented at the AAS by Edward M. Sion and his team from Villanova University, Philadelphia. Their research suggests that a binary star called T Pyxidis is acting rather strange.

Up until 1967, T Pyxidis was exploding as a recurrent nova every 20 years or so. This nova was being caused by a white dwarf sucking gas from its companion star. As the quantity of gas reached a certain limit, it would detonate as a nova (a stellar explosion that leaves the star intact). However, for the last 40 years, the repeating novae have stopped.

Naturally, this excites astronomers and Sion's team has reached the conclusion that T Pyxidis is about to go supernova (in this case, it would be a Type 1a supernova as the white dwarf is stealing matter from its unfortunate binary partner).

The thing is, T Pyxidis is only 3,260 light years from us, prompting the researchers to also postulate that the resulting supernova could damage Earth.

This fact alone was the trigger for the Telegraph's scary headline (although it's not clear where the quote 'to be wiped out' came from -- damage to the ozone layer is one thing, wiping out Earth is quite another!).

Interested in what was going on, I contacted my colleague Ray Villard who is currently attending the conference in D.C. and he confirmed that the Telegraph article is 90% hype.

During Sion's presentation, he was challenged by one of his peers in the audience, Prof. Alex Fillipenko from Berkeley Astronomy Department. Apparently Sion had possibly miscalculated the damage that could be caused by a T Pyxidis supernova.

It seems that Sion had used data for a far more deadly gamma-ray burst (GRB) exploding 3,260 light-years from Earth, not a supernova. T Pyxidis certainly isn't expected to produce a GRB. (Gamma-ray bursts are thought to only be generated by a massive star that has reached the end of its life as a Wolf-Rayet star collapsing under its own gravitational attraction.)

"A supernova would have to be 10 times closer [to Earth] to do the damage described," Ray informed me via email.

The scientists at the meeting were also highly dubious about Sion's estimate that the star could explode imminently. In fact, the Telegraph article even closes with a quote from Robin Scagell, vice-president of the UK's Society for Popular Astronomy: "The star may certainly became a supernova soon -- but soon could still be a long way off so don't have nightmares."

In summary, T Pyxidis is too far away to cause the Earth any harm and there's doubt that the star will even explode "soon."

So, where's the panic? That's right, there isn't any. I'm sure the Telegraph took Sion's pre-conference press release at face-value and didn't have the good fortune to have a correspondent at the AAS to confirm Sion's claims. But, publishing an article indicating a global catastrophe is imminent strikes me as a little irresponsible.

Meetings like the AAS are key to the scientific process where theories are aired and results are open to academic scrutiny, sometimes it's better to wait until after the conference before reaching any conclusions.

 

[Al Today]

... these explosions came regularly about every 20 years from 1890 – but stopped after 1967.

So the next blast is nearly 20 years overdue ...

Excuse me for probably being , but I must say something about the PTB & MSM fear mongering and how Knowledge Protects...

As said before, The Future is Open. With Work, through studies, we should become aware of possibilities, but not dwell upon speculation. Worrying about this schtuff only creates stress and provides distraction from objectively "seeing" what truly needs to be done/understood. Dwelling on fear won't change what could, might, or even might NOT happen. Methinks the emotions of anxiety, fear and dread may be scrumptious delectable delights for those 4D dudes who cannot "see" beyond their wishful desires. Think of this energy farm with millions/billions of livestock living upon this BBM. Combine all those continuous negative emotions with the sheer negative emotional traumatic shock caused by an actual catastrophic event would probably be gluttonous banquet for those STS buggars... [edit: A soul smashing event?]

Yep, this BBM is probably overdue for a cosmic disaster. Extinction events have happend in the "past" and more to come seem logical, but so what? I believe it has been said to Face the Unknown with an Unblinking Eye. Continue to learn "things". Continue the Work and maybe fear will dissipate as knowledge is accumulated.

 

[Marcus-Aurelius]

[Excuse me for probably being , but I must say something about the PTB & MSM fear mongering and how Knowledge Protects...

taliking of PTB and MSM, you should perhaps need to go trough this podcast.
Especially the Elders of Zion passage that laura read. I was forrified the first time I listened to it.

Edit: Oups, have pulled the thread further off topic. Please excuse me.