Quote:
Originally Posted by seanliddelow
Wouldnt the combined radiation be enough to cause cancers?  |
No, the amount of radiation you would get from both going off at the same time would barely raise it above background levels. You have to remember, one is 640 light years from us and the other is 8000 odd.
Now, if you were within 30-100 of Betelgeuse or 1000 of Eta, that would be a different matter entirely. Eta is a much larger star than Betelgeuse and will subsequently go off with a much larger bang. What's worse, if Eta goes off as a pair-instability hypernova and forms a gamma ray burst, any habitable planets lying within a 10-20 degree offset from it's axis of rotation, anywhere in the galaxy, will get fried by a massive burst of radiation. It'd be like standing in front of the main beam of the LHC when they fire it up!!!. Luckily for us, we're nowhere near the axis of rotation of Eta. However, there is another LBV (Luminous Blue Variable) near the core of the Galaxy, can't remember it's designation offhand, but for that one, we're almost smack bang in it's sights. If it went off in the last 28000 years or so, then we're stuffed, but they don't think it's quite ready yet. By the time it is, we'll be out of the way.
Here's a good article on
Eta Carina