Swift catches monster flare

[Impaler[WrG]]

Just add another zero as last I heard the resent NK bomb was about a tenth of a Hiroshima.

The statistic isn't very meaningfull uless they state over what period of time the energy is released, the sun (Sol) acording to Wikipedia released energy equal to 9.1×10^10 megatons of TNT per second.

[BlackCat]

It is after all described as a solar flare, so the time is probably like a simliar on our local sun.

It must have been a bit powerfull since NASA says :

The flare was perhaps the most energetic magnetic stellar explosion ever detected.

on http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sw...ter_flare.html

Next question is how and if this will have an impact on our climate.

[Straybow]

Originally posted by BlackCat
It is after all described as a solar flare, so the time is probably like a simliar on our local sun.

It must have been a bit powerfull since NASA says :

on http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sw...ter_flare.html

Next question is how and if this will have an impact on our climate.

Not to worry, since II Pegasi is 135 ly away it would have to be a Type Ia (?) supernova to impact life on Earth.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=21221

[The Mad Monk]

Speaking of supernovae, what is the lowest mass a star can be and still go out with a bang?

[Zoid]

Originally posted by Winston


Not to mention physicists, like, oh I don't know.. Ørsted?

Bah, astronomers, physicists... Same thing!

[Impaler[WrG]]

I think its in the ball park of 8 times the suns mass (inital mass burring mainsequence). but for a white dwarf to go off it only needs to steal mass from a companion star and grow to arould .4 SolarMasses and it goes boom.

I've also heard that stellar collisions can cause stars to explode. The senario involved a White dwarf hitting a mainsequence star. The dwarf is so dense that its like a bullet hitting a watermellon. The dwarf it goes right through without a scratch, the compression shockwave ignites fusion throughout much of the other star and it blows up regardless of size.

[Lul Thyme]

Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Speaking of supernovae, what is the lowest mass a star can be and still go out with a bang?

Think it's about 4 solar masses.