I’m not enough of an astrophysicist to do this math myself, but what would this kind of burst look like from Earth? Observable w a telescope? W the naked eye? Enter a bomb shelter and save yourself?
If it does generate a gamma ray burst, then that is a more interesting phenomena. Depending on whether or not it is pointed in our direction, we might see more or less energy from it directly. After travelling 8000 light years and passing through all the dust between us and the planet, it would be seriously attenuated and unlikely to cause any destruction or even noticeable effects on earth.
[1] Astrologers on the other hand, it could be the sign that the end of the world is nigh :-)
I enjoyed Phil's article on it, thanks for the link. The take away is pretty good, a lot of things would have to align for it to hit us, and if it did, the effects range from 'none' to 'extinction'. Which is true for a lot of things (like asteroids)
It suggests another interesting plot for a science fiction novel, an alien attack force is coming to invade the planet, and a GRB event goes of across the galaxy, missing Earth completely but killing everything on the alien armada. Which slowly drifts toward the inner solar system.
You can read the Wikipedia article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst but to summarize the burst is believed to be a 'jet' this forms as part of the explosion of the spinning masses.
Can you point me to a source for that "about 30 degrees away from us"? I haven't seen it.
And, how directional? All the energy is spread across half the sky? Only 10 degrees? Or only one degree? Is 30 degrees enough for it to completely miss us? Mostly miss us? Or are we still in the danger cone?
Finally, in a binary star system, is that 30 degrees going to change as the stars orbit each other? (Worse, IIRC, there's a third, more distant star. Can it change the orbit of the other two in a way that shifts that 30 degrees?)
About 5 years ago, it was being suggested that the Wolf-Rayet star WR 104 might cause a dangerous gamma-ray burst when it goes supernova, but these things are highly directional, and I think the current consensus is that it is not aligned closely enough to be harmful. Apep is at a similar distance (~8,000 light years), and the article seems to be suggesting it will likely be more powerful than WR 104 is expected to be, but there is at least one news article is claiming that it is probably not pointed at us.
This star system is about 8000 light-years away. For comparison, in 1572 a different star, also about 8000 light-years away, was observed to go supernova. At its brightest, it was reported to be about as bright as Venus. This supernova would probably reach similar brightness levels.
Interesting story. You have to wonder if the "Christmas" star was a supernova like this one. It suddenly appears, becomes visible during the day for a few weeks, then slowly vanishes for about a year.
There was a sci-fi short story about this, in which a team of explorers found the Christmas star...and the remnants of the civilization which wiped out as a consequence.
or, whether it actually happened. no other cultures with astronomical knowledge have ever been found to have reported on such a star ~2000 years ago. if there was a sighting visible in the med region, it was likely an asteroid or, possibly, Jupiter.
I saw that article. If you read a little further, the position of the comet couldn't have led the so-called wisemen to Bethleham (yet another apocryphal tale). So, still no other cultures.
There have been reports of Supernova's (SN 1006) @ a visual magnitude of -7.5 during the day which might be visible by human eyes, however this was a very long time ago.
If it does generate a gamma ray burst, then that is a more interesting phenomena. Depending on whether or not it is pointed in our direction, we might see more or less energy from it directly. After travelling 8000 light years and passing through all the dust between us and the planet, it would be seriously attenuated and unlikely to cause any destruction or even noticeable effects on earth.
[1] Astrologers on the other hand, it could be the sign that the end of the world is nigh :-)