Did M82 just fry 5000 earths?

[cosmicalstorm]

There was a blurb on Twitter regarding the recent supernova in M82. Can anyone comment on the accuracy of this claim? It's haunting.

Back of envelope calc: 10^6 cubic parsecs fried by #M82supernova. Approximately 5000 earth-like planets wiped out.

[The Xeelee]

We have no idea of how many earth like planets there are. In fact we haven't confirmed any. Therefore that is nonsense.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Last time I checked the M82 supernova is only a Type 1a, a white dwarf crossing the Chandrasaekhar limit and collapsing to a neutron star. A lot less powerful than a Type II where a big star goes boom.

Also, 10^6 cubic parsecs means a cube 100 parsecs on a side, or 326 light years. Even if the supernova had enough power, it would take well over 300 years to completely fill everything in that volume. And finally, the supernova may have enough power to fry a planet that's close-in, but the energy per unit area decreases with the square of the distance. So any planet beyond a few light years would probably be safe.

I think whoever said that may have mixed it up with a gamma ray burst. That would fry msot planets within range.

[Borgholio]

It's sensationalism. The Supernova probably could fry a shitload of planets but there are many variables.

1. How many planets were within the death zone of the radiation release?
2. How many planets were within the polar GRB radiation cones?
3. How many of those planets were Earth-like?

So yeah it's possible that a large supernova could kill thousands of Earths...but there's no way to be sure exactly what it DID destroy without answering those three questions.

Oh and minor nitpick, we HAVE confirmed hundreds of planets roughly the size of Earth, we just haven't confirmed that this supernova destroyed any.

Ghetto Edit - a type 1a is still powerful enough to ruin your day if you're too close, or if you're in the path of the GRB.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Ghetto Edit - a type 1a is still powerful enough to ruin your day if you're too close, or if you're in the path of the GRB.

True, but no paper I have ever read suggests that a Type Ia can sterilise a million cubic parsecs of space. Hell, even Type IIs can't do that. The only things I know of that are capable of doing such damge are bigass GRBs or some of the nastier Active Galactic Nuclei, but the AGNs wouldn't have habitable planets near them anyway.

[The Xeelee]

It's sensationalism. The Supernova probably could fry a shitload of planets but there are many variables.

1. How many planets were within the death zone of the radiation release?
2. How many planets were within the polar GRB radiation cones?
3. How many of those planets were Earth-like?

So yeah it's possible that a large supernova could kill thousands of Earths...but there's no way to be sure exactly what it DID destroy without answering those three questions.

Oh and minor nitpick, we HAVE confirmed hundreds of planets roughly the size of Earth, we just haven't confirmed that this supernova destroyed any.

Ghetto Edit - a type 1a is still powerful enough to ruin your day if you're too close, or if you're in the path of the GRB.

I assumed when they said earth-like they meant habitable like earth. I am fully aware we have discovered planet a the size of earth, some may be in the habitable zone. But they could be more mars or Venus like than earth.

[Borgholio]

But they could be more mars or Venus like than earth.

Yeah most of the Earth-sized planets found so far are rather uncomfortable places to live.

If the article DID mean actual life-bearing worlds, then it's full of shit.

[StarSword]

I was under the impression that since M82 is a different galaxy, there'd be no way to tell if there were any planets in the vicinity of the blast at all. For crying out loud, the place is 11.5 million LY away and you can barely discern individual stars.

Twitter is full of shit. Film at eleven.

[Channel72]

There was a blurb on Twitter regarding the recent supernova in M82. Can anyone comment on the accuracy of this claim? It's haunting.

Recent? If we know about it, it happened like 12 million years ago.

So, 5000 earth-like planets may or may not have been destroyed, 12 millions years ago...

[Flagg]

Well even with the likelihood of a trillion sentient beings being vaporized it's totally worth it so douchebags like us can nitpick over minutia. Totes ma goats.

[Simon_Jester]

They were dead ten million years before any species in our genus evolved.

If we didn't talk about the thing that (presumably) killed them, would it make them less dead?

[Sky Captain]

A supernova cann't wipe out all life on planet unless tha planet happens to be so close that oceans boil off and crust melts. Anything less and bacteria living on ocean floor or inside crust wouldn't even notice any disturbance.

[Borgholio]

A supernova cann't wipe out all life on planet unless tha planet happens to be so close that oceans boil off and crust melts. Anything less and bacteria living on ocean floor or inside crust wouldn't even notice any disturbance.

A Gamma Ray Burst from a Supernova can fry a planet thousands of lightyears away.

[The Xeelee]

Well even with the likelihood of a trillion sentient beings being vaporized it's totally worth it so douchebags like us can nitpick over minutia. Totes ma goats.

Shut up you fucking moron. There is no evidence of other sentient having existed yet so we can not say there is any fucking chance anything dies. Also it would have happened longer ago than many cultures here were wiped out, but yet I don't think you give a shit about talking about those.

[Flagg]

Well even with the likelihood of a trillion sentient beings being vaporized it's totally worth it so douchebags like us can nitpick over minutia. Totes ma goats.

Shut up you fucking moron. There is no evidence of other sentient having existed yet so we can not say there is any fucking chance anything dies. Also it would have happened longer ago than many cultures here were wiped out, but yet I don't think you give a shit about talking about those.

Get over yourself you prick. What the fuck do Earth cultures wiped out for various reasons have to do with nitpickery about a supernova 12,000,000 ly away anyway? What relevance do they have to this topic? Oh right, none. I simply posited that it's likely there were many sentient beings wiped out in a flash which I freely admit is pure speculation and you fat nerds start splitting hairs. It's fucking hilarious. If you had any reading comprehension you'd also have seen that I included myself under the "douchebag" label because shock of shocks it wasn't a totally serious statement, just something to think about. But instead of being cool you decided to be all internet tough guy and try to score brownie points. Well news flash motherfucker: No one gives a shit.

[Eternal_Freedom]

A supernova cann't wipe out all life on planet unless tha planet happens to be so close that oceans boil off and crust melts. Anything less and bacteria living on ocean floor or inside crust wouldn't even notice any disturbance.

Not true. A supernova (hell, even a sufficiently large CME) can strip away the planet's protective radiation belts and leave it exposed to the solar wind and/or all the other nasty radiation flying around after said supernova. Global extinction would not be far behind. Melting crusts and boiling oceans is not the only way to sterilize a planet.

As for describing it as "recent," it's an accepted convention in astronomy to refer to things relative to when we observe them. Thus, this M82 supernova is "recent" or even "current" if it hasn't faded yet, whereas the 1054 supernova that created the Crab Nebula is described as "old."

[Borgholio]

When Betelgeuse explodes, it'll be "recent" for us, even though technically it went about 500 years or so in the past.

Can't wait for that to happen actually...it's going to be an epic light show.

[Guardsman Bass]

When Betelgeuse explodes, it'll be "recent" for us, even though technically it went about 500 years or so in the past.

Can't wait for that to happen actually...it's going to be an epic light show.

It might fuck up space travel and space exploration for a few decades, albeit thousands of years after the initial visual confirmation of the supernova. But yeah, the light show itself would be pretty spectacular, with 2-3 months of it sitting up there as bright as the full moon and visible in daytime.

[The Xeelee]

Well even with the likelihood of a trillion sentient beings being vaporized it's totally worth it so douchebags like us can nitpick over minutia. Totes ma goats.

Shut up you fucking moron. There is no evidence of other sentient having existed yet so we can not say there is any fucking chance anything dies. Also it would have happened longer ago than many cultures here were wiped out, but yet I don't think you give a shit about talking about those.

Get over yourself you prick. What the fuck do Earth cultures wiped out for various reasons have to do with nitpickery about a supernova 12,000,000 ly away anyway? What relevance do they have to this topic? Oh right, none. I simply posited that it's likely there were many sentient beings wiped out in a flash which I freely admit is pure speculation and you fat nerds start splitting hairs. It's fucking hilarious. If you had any reading comprehension you'd also have seen that I included myself under the "douchebag" label because shock of shocks it wasn't a totally serious statement, just something to think about. But instead of being cool you decided to be all internet tough guy and try to score brownie points. Well news flash motherfucker: No one gives a shit.

Oh perhaps its relevant because you wouldn't consider someone to be "douchebags" for discussing the deaths of ancient cultures neither would you refer to people discussing it as fat nerds yet when it comes to somethings that may or may not have existed and may or may not have died 12 million years ago it applies. You seem to be the one acting as the "Internet tough guy".

[Flagg]

Shut up you fucking moron. There is no evidence of other sentient having existed yet so we can not say there is any fucking chance anything dies. Also it would have happened longer ago than many cultures here were wiped out, but yet I don't think you give a shit about talking about those.

Get over yourself you prick. What the fuck do Earth cultures wiped out for various reasons have to do with nitpickery about a supernova 12,000,000 ly away anyway? What relevance do they have to this topic? Oh right, none. I simply posited that it's likely there were many sentient beings wiped out in a flash which I freely admit is pure speculation and you fat nerds start splitting hairs. It's fucking hilarious. If you had any reading comprehension you'd also have seen that I included myself under the "douchebag" label because shock of shocks it wasn't a totally serious statement, just something to think about. But instead of being cool you decided to be all internet tough guy and try to score brownie points. Well news flash motherfucker: No one gives a shit.

Oh perhaps its relevant because you wouldn't consider someone to be "douchebags" for discussing the deaths of ancient cultures neither would you refer to people discussing it as fat nerds yet when it comes to somethings that may or may not have existed and may or may not have died 12 million years ago it applies. You seem to be the one acting as the "Internet tough guy".

What's the over/under on that being the Death Star blowing up? Long time ago, Galaxy Far Far away, butthurt boy in a bubble floating around in his own waste...

[The Xeelee]

Wow more meaningless drivel. Are you capable of constructively contributing to anything?

[Eternal_Freedom]

When Betelgeuse explodes, it'll be "recent" for us, even though technically it went about 500 years or so in the past.

Can't wait for that to happen actually...it's going to be an epic light show.

You'll be waiting a while, I've seen estimates placing Betelgeuse going boom as 50,000 years away.

[Borgholio]

It might fuck up space travel and space exploration for a few decades

How so? The initial burst of radiation doesn't last all THAT long.

You'll be waiting a while, I've seen estimates placing Betelgeuse going boom as 50,000 years away.

Yeah nobody knows when, but it'll be soon by galactic standards. It could theoretically have already happened.

[Eternal_Freedom]

You'll be waiting a while, I've seen estimates placing Betelgeuse going boom as 50,000 years away.

Yeah nobody knows when, but it'll be soon by galactic standards. It could theoretically have already happened.

While that's possible, it's unlikely. The star (apparently) isn't far enough along the asymptotic giant branch for a supernova and that's unlikely to change for thousands of years.

I hope that's wrong though, because it will be awesome to see. A star as bright as the full moon? With lots of interesting stuff happening that you can pick up with even basic spectrographs? In fucking daytime? Hell yes.

[Borgholio]

Yeah Kepler's supernova in the 1600's was 20k lightyears away and was as bright as Venus. Betelgeuse is only 600 lightyears away. Think about it.