Near-Earth supernova

Main article: History of supernova observation
The Crab Nebula is a pulsar wind nebula associated with the 1054 supernova. It is located about 6,500 light-years from the Earth.[1]

A near-Earth supernova is an explosion resulting from the death of a star that occurs close enough to the Earth (roughly less than 10 to 300 parsecs [30 to 1000 light-years] away[2]) to have noticeable effects on Earth's biosphere.

An estimated 20 supernova explosions have happened within 300 pc of the Earth over the last 11 million years. Type II supernova explosions are expected to occur in active star-forming regions, with 12 such OB associations being located within 650 pc of the Earth. At present, there are 12 near-Earth supernova candidates within 300 pc.[3][4][5]

  1. ^ Kaplan, D. L.; Chatterjee, S.; Gaensler, B. M.; Anderson, J. (2008). "A Precise Proper Motion for the Crab Pulsar, and the Difficulty of Testing Spin-Kick Alignment for Young Neutron Stars". The Astrophysical Journal. 677 (2): 1201–1215. arXiv:0801.1142. Bibcode:2008ApJ...677.1201K. doi:10.1086/529026. S2CID 17840947.
  2. ^ Joshua Sokol (Jan 14, 2016). "What If History's Brightest Supernova Exploded In Earth's Backyard?". The Atlantic.
  3. ^ Firestone, R. B. (July 2014). "Observation of 23 Supernovae That Exploded <300 pc from Earth during the past 300 kyr". The Astrophysical Journal. 789 (1): 11. Bibcode:2014ApJ...789...29F. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/789/1/29. 29.
  4. ^ Mukhopadhyay, Mainak; Lunardini, Cecilia; Timmes, F. X.; Zuber, Kai (August 2020). "Presupernova Neutrinos: Directional Sensitivity and Prospects for Progenitor Identification". The Astrophysical Journal. 899 (2): 153. arXiv:2004.02045. Bibcode:2020ApJ...899..153M. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab99a6. ISSN 0004-637X.
  5. ^ "Acrux". stars.astro.illinois.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-16.