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NEWS > SCIENCE > SUPERNOVA ON ITS WAY TO WIPE OUT ALL LIFE ON EARTH
SUPERNOVA ON ITS WAY TO WIPE OUT ALL LIFE ON EARTH
January 8 2010
Philadelphia, PA – Space is massive, more massive than a person can truly envision. The Milky Way for example is 100,000 light years in diameter and 1000 light years thick. To put that in perspective, one light year is a little under 10 trillion kilometres.
The Milky Way houses, according to low end estimates, 200 billion stars. Our galaxy though is nothing special as far as size goes, medium at best, and there are at least 200 billion more galaxies floating around the Universe. Truly massive indeed.
Judging things on that massive scale means that events that would be overwhelming for us to comprehend are minor on the macro. The obliteration of all life on Earth for example would be catastrophic for us, but for the universe it would be akin to covering up an ant hole. It is in that knowledge that we can perhaps take solace in our eventual destruction as a massive shockwave, emanating from a star 3260 light years away, makes its way towards us to obliterate billions of years of evolution on our planet. That event, the supernova of the white dwarf T Pyxidis, is expected at any time, putting the time clock on our species and every living thing on the planet.
“The blast from the thermonuclear explosion will strip away our ozone layer which is the protective layer over our planet that keeps out radiation. That would leave us defenceless to those forces, even the power of our own sun, and would quickly kill everything on the planet. That’s a best case scenario to be frank, and the devastation could be far worse,” said Edward M Sion of Villanova University in Philadelphia. “Basically this white dwarf is sucking in gas and steadily expanding. Eventually it will become too massive, reach critical mass, and explode with the power of 20 billion billion billion megatons of TNT and is spacial terms is really quite close. That means the end of everything on Earth so we’d better start getting prepared for the inevitable.”
Astronomers have noted the star had been giving off small explosions every twenty years up until 1967 indicating that the star may have already exploded and the massive radiation wave could be headed our way.
“Really I think it’s reasonable for people to start to worry about this. The star is a fair distance away in our terms so it will take a while for the blast wave to hit us but given the vast distances of space and the delay in receiving images from such a distant location there is a very real possibility that the energy wave is about to hit us. People should be very, very worried,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “We could be experiencing the end of days in our lifetime, perhaps this is the end that the Mayans predicted all that time ago. I mean there’s a good chance that the wave won’t hit us on exactly the day they predicted but there’s a good chance. Either way, we are doomed and should start preparing for that.”
Experts have often recommended stocking up on food and weapons before panic sets in and rioting begins.
“The first thing people should do is build yourself an underground bunker of concrete and steel. That won’t protect you from the apocalypse but it will protect from the roving hordes determined to take what’s yours. After that people should begin stocking the bunker with non-perishables and bottled water. A significant supply of automatic weapons is also a good idea,” said Scrape TV Apocalypse analyst Seth Morris. “After you’ve complete preparations people should make peace with their loved ones and whatever higher power they believe in. Beyond that, just prepare for the inevitable and enjoy your final days.”
Thus far most cities report calm in the streets though that is likely to change over the next few days and weeks as the inevitably of mass destruction become more apparent.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
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