How many stars are there within 26 light years of Earth which are suitably massive to go supernova?

Question

How many stars are there within 26 light years of Earth which are suitably massive to go supernova?

Answer 1

The most likely nearby star to go supernova is Betelgeuse, the red supergiant in the constellation Orion, 427 light years away from us. Its diameter is 650 times that of the Sun, if it were to be put in our Solar System in place of the Sun, its outer surface would extend to the orbit of Jupiter (that's big!)

i've looked and looked and this is all ican find about supernova and the earth.... but what it says is there are 0 stars that will go supernova within a 26 light year radius... the closest one to us that can go supernova is 427 light years away.

i basicly already knew this answer (that there was no near-by star that could really pose a risk) but wasn't sure so was trying to find out for sure.

Answer 2

There are no stars that could create a type II supernova. It has been speculated that Sirius B might create a type 1a supernova when Sirius A becomes a red giant. Procyon 2 is another possibility. I think in both cases, however, it is not very likely as both binary systems have fairly wide separation. I think stars need to be within a few AU of each other and the aforementioned are about 15-16 AUs apart.

PS Slipknot, if you're wondering who gave you the thumbs down, I meant to give you a thumbs up but accidentally clicked the thumbs down. Feel free to retaliate.

Answer 3

In short, none.

Answer 4

There are two sorts of supernova.

Type II supernovas are caused by huge stars much bigger than our sun. When they run out of fuel, they collapse, then explode in a supernova. There are none of these close to the earth.

Type I supernovas are made from really small dim stars which have an accretion disc (a disc of matter around them). As the matter falls from the disc into the star, they gain mass rapidly which can cause them to explode as a supernova. IT's hard to know whether there are any of these close to earth, as they are very hard to detect.

But why settle on 26 light years? Even at 300 light years, a supernova would have serious effects on life on earth. At 30 light years, it would probably wipe out nearly all life. At 300 light years, it would probably cause major problems.