The Nearest Supernova Candidate To Earth: IK Pegasi 55
The Bad Astronomer writes "What's the nearest star to Earth that can explode as a supernova? Spica, at 260 light years away, is the nearest massive star that can explode, but IK Pegasi — a Sirius-like binary composed of a normal star and a white dwarf — will also one day blow. At a distance of 150 light years, it's truly the closest supernova candidate. Happily, that's too far away to damage the Earth when it goes off — and it won't explode for millions of years at least, by which time it'll be even farther away. Either way, we're safe... for now."
Who cares? Wrong question.... (Score:2, Insightful)
So what? the nearest star that can explode as a supernova? What good will knowing that mean if it's millions of years away?
The RIGHT question is:
What's the closest star we can SEE with the naked EYE go supernova that has a reasonable chance of any of us slashdotters viewing in our lifetimes. That IS important as it matters to the average person who might just look up.
Re:Eta Carinae and the definition of near (Score:5, Insightful)
When you're standing 2 metres away from someone, and they say "hey, what are you doing now?", do you reply "did you mean 0.0000000066712819 seconds ago?"