Before we get to the debunk itself, here’s a couple of thoughts:
LAZY: The first 3 pages on Google for 2012 supernova find a straight-to-video mockbuster movie of the same name, and a website called 2012supernova.org that doesn’t actually mention supernovas. And that’s it. They are debunking something that didn’t need debunking because nobody believes it.
Of course now there’s a web page about it written by NASA…
NO DISCLAIMER: Every time scientists tell us about space, they should really put a disclaimer at the bottom, saying: We are constantly learning about outer space, every year we find many things that we didn’t expect, and everything we tell you could be proven to be wrong if new data arrives.
The NASA debunk itself is pretty standard:
Yes – supernovae and gamma-ray bursts could fry us.
No – there’s no stars or black holes close enough to harm us, and anyway they won’t happen soon.
Force / Distance = Harm
If our Sun goes supernova, we are dead. If a star 1 billion light years away that is the size of our Sun goes supernova, we are safe. That’s distance.
But the other variable is force. The size of a star might not be the only indicator, and there’s might be different types of supernova – imagine a supernova jet! :
LAZY: The first 3 pages on Google for 2012 supernova find a straight-to-video mockbuster movie of the same name, and a website called 2012supernova.org that doesn’t actually mention supernovas. And that’s it. They are debunking something that didn’t need debunking because nobody believes it.
Of course now there’s a web page about it written by NASA…
NO DISCLAIMER: Every time scientists tell us about space, they should really put a disclaimer at the bottom, saying: We are constantly learning about outer space, every year we find many things that we didn’t expect, and everything we tell you could be proven to be wrong if new data arrives.
The NASA debunk itself is pretty standard:
Yes – supernovae and gamma-ray bursts could fry us.
No – there’s no stars or black holes close enough to harm us, and anyway they won’t happen soon.
Given the incredible amounts of energy in a supernova explosion – as much as the sun creates during its entire lifetime – another erroneous doomsday theory is that such an explosion could happen in 2012 and harm life on Earth. However, given the vastness of space and the long times between supernovae, astronomers can say with certainty that there is no threatening star close enough to hurt Earth.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-supernova.htmlThe problem is that they lie by omission. Determining if something from space can harm us requires an equation. I have no idea how to formulate a scientific equation for supernovae and GMBs, but I do know that an equation has more than one part. So in layman’s terms it would go like this:
Force / Distance = Harm
If our Sun goes supernova, we are dead. If a star 1 billion light years away that is the size of our Sun goes supernova, we are safe. That’s distance.
But the other variable is force. The size of a star might not be the only indicator, and there’s might be different types of supernova – imagine a supernova jet! :
Astronomers have previously said that any supernova explosion within 100 light-years of Earth would likely be devastating, but beyond 100 light-years, it’s not known for sure what the effects might be. However, astronomers have also been keeping an eye on Eta Carinae, a potential supernova about 7,500 light-years away. One factor, astronomers say, is how powerful a given supernova is.
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