Nova's and supernova's

[Shrykull]

Now, are there only 4 ways a star can end it's life? Nova, supernova, becoming a red giant, then burning out, or becoming a neutron star and then becoming a black hole. Say our sun went nova or supernova right now, would that destroy every planet in our solar system (like the death star did) , or some of them and send the rest flying off into space?

[beyond hope]

Our sun can't go nova because it's not massive enough

[TrailerParkJawa]

I believe, however if our sun exanped to a red giant, that it would swallow the Earth before it contracted again.

[neoolong]

I believe, however if our sun exanped to a red giant, that it would swallow the Earth before it contracted again.

It will then become a white dwarf star and grow cooler and dimmer.

[data_link]

Now, are there only 4 ways a star can end it's life? Nova, supernova, becoming a red giant, then burning out, or becoming a neutron star and then becoming a black hole. Say our sun went nova or supernova right now, would that destroy every planet in our solar system (like the death star did) , or some of them and send the rest flying off into space?

As the sun becomes a red gaint, it's size will increase past the orbit of Earth andd probably Mars. Both planets will be scorched long before then. As friction from the gases of the sun's atmosphere and later, the sun itself, slow down our planet, it will slowly spiral into the sun, eventually becoming crushed under the immense temperature and pressure and becoming an indistinct part of the sun. The same fate awaits our red brother. As for the outer planets, as the sun's mass will not change significantly, the outer planet's orbits will be unaffected. They will probably suffer some loss of atmosphere due to increased pressure from the solar wind, and a nova could blow a lot of it off, although they would gain some of their mass back afterwasrds as their gravity sttracts some of the material blown off from the sun. In any case, none of the planets would suffer DS or sci-fi shockwave destruction from our sun going nova (mainly due to the fact that shockwaves don't exist in space), and the outer planets will probably continue to orbit even after our sun is dead.

[Shrykull]

In any case, none of the planets would suffer DS or sci-fi shockwave destruction from our sun going nova (mainly due to the fact that shockwaves don't exist in space)

What exactly is the solar wind and a shockwave? I mean if it goes nova wouldn't it send it's plasma hurtling out in all directions?

and the outer planets will probably continue to orbit even after our sun is dead.

But what would they orbit around? I thought with the sun gone they'd be flung off into space, do you mean perhaps that they'll start orbiting jupiter now instead, since it's the object with the most mass out of all of them?

[data_link]

What exactly is the solar wind and a shockwave? I mean if it goes nova wouldn't it send it's plasma hurtling out in all directions?

The solar wind is the stream of particles being continually sent off in all directions by the sun as it fuses. Shockwaves are IIRC large pressure waves in a medium - since the medium of empty space only supports electromagnetic waves (which are transverse waves, not pressure waves), shockwaves do not exist in space. Now a nova will vastly increase the amount of radiation pressure as well as the pressure exerted by the solar wind, but it will not create a shockwave.

But what would they orbit around? I thought with the sun gone they'd be flung off into space, do you mean perhaps that they'll start orbiting jupiter now instead, since it's the object with the most mass out of all of them?

No. The sun is not completely gone... virtually all stars when they explode leave some sort of a dense stellar remnant behind. In the case of a sunlike star it would be a white dwarf. This white dwarf would still have a large fraction of the suns original mass, and the planets would orbit around it.