Light System Effect
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How close to our solar system would a supernova have to be to affect us?
Aside from seeing the light of the supernova, how close would one have to be to have any kind of measurable effect on our solar system - specifically on Earth.
An ordinary core collapse supernova would have to occur with 30 light years to seriously damage the biosphere, but even one considerably farther away would likely bombard us with a lot of extra gamma, x-ray and ultraviolet radiation. That will have numerous effects upon the environment and life, probably among other things accelerating mutations and evolution as well as causing extinctions. Within 30 light years a supernova would probably so damage the ozone layer wholesale die offs will occur, and human survival would be severely challenged to say the least. The same would be true of a white dwarf destabilizing and runaway nuclear fusion blowing it completely apart as a Type 1A supernova. These are at least 10 times more numerous that the Type 1b, 1c and 2 supernovae that destroy massive stars.
However, if a very massive star explodes as a hyper nova, a black hole is formed. As it forms, twin jets of highly focused plasma will burst out of the star and fire off deadly gamma rays in tightly collimated beams. This happens even before the shock waves can rip through the outer envelope and hurl it into space. If one should hit Earth even from 6,000 light years away, it would wipe out most species of life on Earth. If the Earth should be struck from a hyper nova and the accompanying gamma ray burst from 30 light years away, the Earth would not only be sterilized, the surface of the planet would be melted and fused like everything would be near ground zero of a nuclear explosion.
Stars capable of exploding as a hyper nova are very rare now, and there are no stars within 150 light years that can go off as a supernova. The nearest one is IK Pegasi, which is a white dwarf very near the maximum mass it can have and still be supported by mutual repulsion between electrons. When it goes over the tipping point feeding off of another star in orbit around it, it will blow itself completely apart, turn itself into a rapidly expanding cloud of elements like iron, nickel, sulfur and titanium, and light up the sky so brightly it will outshine the full moon for weeks, if not months. It won't do any serious damage to us, but it's radiation will leave traces of radioactivity that will be recorded in the ice sheets, sea floor and other places. Evidence for supernova going off near us in the past has in fact been found in this manner.
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