Maybe I'm missing something here

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Maybe I'm missing something here

But I was under the impression that information cannot travel faster than light

Typically, they occur when a massive star - more than eight times the mass of the Sun - runs out of fuel and collapses to form a hot relic called a neutron star.
Their extreme brightness allows them to be seen in distant galaxies.
But observers cannot pick up this optical emission until several hours or days after the explosion, so a supernova's first moments are shrouded in mystery.

I thought Proxima Centauri was the closest star at 4.2 light years. If it were to pop, it would take 4.2 years before we knew it, right?

rolled out on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 7:23 PM

Comments

# re: Maybe I'm missing something here - JayF

Rolled Out On: 5/21/2008 7:59 PM

"Know it" is putting it mildly. If a star as close as Proxima Centauri "popped," it would probably FRY us -- but yes, 4.2 years later.

# re: Maybe I'm missing something here - Liberty

Rolled Out On: 5/21/2008 8:52 PM

I think what they're referring to is if it happens up there, it's days later before some kind of sensor starts beeping and astronomers start turning their telescopes to whatever it is that's causing a ruckus. There's so much damn space in space that the chances of being tuned in to an area when something is exploding (yes, billions of years ago, but I'm talking our real time) is pretty much zero.

# re: Maybe I'm missing something here - Kevin

Rolled Out On: 5/21/2008 9:28 PM

I don't get what you are confused about. First a large wave of X-rays were observed, which promoted astronomers to focus their telescopes on the star to observe the supernova.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/science/22nova.html?em&ex=1211515200&en=51e856f4c1f0ba9d&ei=5087%0A

"Most supernovas, Dr. Soderberg explained, are discovered and classified by their visible light, but that typically does not happen until the explosion is a month or more old and has brightened enough to be seen over intergalactic distances.

The true fireworks, she said, happen much earlier when a shock wave from the imploding core hits the star’s surface, producing so-called breakout light, which lasts only a few minutes."

# re: Maybe I'm missing something here - Robb Allen

Rolled Out On: 5/21/2008 9:41 PM

Ah, they're saying days after the EVENT even though that even was X millions of years ago, not "The star 'sploded last week, we're just seeing it today".

Got it. Wasn't clear in the article I read. Thanks.