What do you think of when you see or here about a star blinks out of existence

[Space Junkey]

What do you think of when you see or here about a star blinks out of existence
I think of the possible extinction of billions of lives with no trace that they have ever existed, how sad

[mill]

It is nothing to think about.
Just a fact of live.
The same will happen with our sun and the human race will be wiped out.
Ce la vie!

[AG Hybrid]

I seriously doubt the human race will be around anywhere near the time our sun goes nova. If we are around, we will be long away from here.

[TrevorW]

There goes another one ~!!!!!

only 6 quad zillion 3 hundred and 32 billion 781 million 456.89 thousand to go

[Waxing_Gibbous]

If it explodes - I think "Oooo. Cool!" If it just blinks out, then I'd be worried. Really, really worried.
Think "Pandora's Star"
Juice up the death rays and bring in the cat!

[GrampianStars]

Just hope the planet around it Had a CollingWood footy club :rofl:

[PeterM]

Hi Adrian,
Our Sun won't go Supernova, instead its demise will be long and unspectacular. The links below show and explain this nicely.

Space Junkey you are right on a universal scale Supernova do blink out of existence but from our view point it can take months to even years for the light from the SN to fade. I can say that finding a "new" star in my image and then getting confirmation that it is indeed a supernova is extremely exciting. Like you it makes me wonder just what was happening around that star when it met its doom and there is a strange experience that goes with this, just knowing you were the first to "see" this in an image is very moving.
But what goes around comes around, and those SN I discovered happened some 150-200 million years ago, the new gases and dust from the furnace that created them will no doubt interact with the same from other bygone stars and who knows, after all a bit of star dust, gravity and a lot of time were the key ingredients needed to enable us to post here on Ice In Space.

PeterM.

http://www.michielb.nl/sun/leven.htm

http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/the-sun/the-suns-future/

[AG Hybrid]

Well, I didnt say supernova. When a star goes or does a nova, it gets big and and then shrivels in the process releasing its mass into space as some type of gas cloud?

Informative reading all the same. Maybe I ment Pulse not Nova

[pmrid]

That's one of those "who in the forest hears when the tree falls" questions; of the one-hand-clapping genre. If I read about a star blowing it's top or just fading into oblivion, I have a 'there but for the grace of God?" moment until I realize I am agnostic and shouldn't be having such thoughts!!

Peter

[PeterM]

Hi Adrian, yup you didn't say supernova my mistake, I have them on the brain I think. A Nova is from much smaller outbursts on a White Dwarf star. The White Dwarf accretes matter from a giant hydrogen rich companion star, but not enough to exceed 1.4 solar mass that would cause the white dwarf to explode as a type 1a supernova.

PeterM.

[Quantum629]

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."

:help2:

[Darth Wader]

:lol:

[JD2439975]

The creation of new elements...the star stuff of life.

[that_guy]

I heard in a documentary where it said that gravity travels at the speed of light... so "IF" the sun goes SN, would we be flung out of the way before the blast reaches??

[TrevorW]

There goes another one ~!!!!!

only 6 quad zillion 3 hundred and 32 billion 781 million 456 thousand 889 to go

[Quantum629]

Ah yes, I've heard of this. There are quite a few theories on what would happen to Earth if the sun went super. If gravitons (the force-carrier particles of gravity, not yet proven btw) do move at light speed, while the material from the explosion has to be at a lower speed (although not my much), then we may very well escape being vaporised, at least to start with. The bow shock will unfortunately quite quickly catch up with us.

Another theory is that as the sun expands as it will in 5 billion years, it becomes increasing lighter as it does so, reducing its gravitational pull on us, again allowing us to possibly float away to safety, to a new orbit around our new red giant. Even so, any remaining inhabitants will still be melted by our new proximity to the star.

Class dismissed. :P

[sjastro]

Assuming the Sun went SN (which it won't due to the small solar mass), the Earth would still be burnt to a crisp by gamma and X-ray radiation which are travelling at c.

Also overcoming the Earth's orbital moment of inertia would delay the Earth's "escape".

Steven