It's 640 light years away (give or take).
Would the neutrinos affect us at all? Is this another doomsday scenario?
I would imagine that it'd be hellishly bright in the night sky.
What does science say about it? I'm rusty on my astronomy, but it'd be awesome to see.
Would the neutrinos affect us at all? Is this another doomsday scenario?
Please, please tell me this was a joke. Please tell me you actually understood what a neutrino is, and were intentionally posting something absurd.
In the off-chance you were serious, a neutrino doesn't interact with matter enough to do any damage. This is not a matter of any uncertainty. A single neutrino would have a chance of passing through several light years of solid lead without interacting with a single atom. Neutrinos are sleeting through your body right now from the centre of the sun; they pass
The neutrinos from a core collapse supernova would be lethal to humans at the distance of Jupiter. Any given neutrino has very little chance of hitting interacting with normal density matter it passes through, but there are a LOT of neutrinos: about 0.05 solar masses of them.
Furthermore, they are the first things that escape from the core (apart from gravitational waves) since they move at near-lightspeed and have very little chance of interacting with the envelope of the star. The big flashy special effe
The neutrinos from a core collapse supernova would be lethal to humans at the distance of Jupiter
I'm not going to put an obnoxious citation needed tag here, but damned if I wasn't tempted. That's the first I've ever heard of neutrinos being deadly to anything at all. I'm understandably sceptical.
I don't suppose you remember the source for that? I'd be curious to see the details.
That being said, the distance between the sun and Jupiter is on the order of tens of light minutes, whereas here to Betelgeuse is hundreds of light years. They may both be, as you say, close to us in astronomical terms, but that isn't saying much. Not when stacked against a few orders of magnitude, anyway.
That's the first I've ever heard of neutrinos being deadly to anything at all. I'm understandably sceptical.
The neutrino emissions from a supernova would be lethal to humans out to a light year or so. Really. Cross-section is ~10e-40 cm^2, average energy is 1 MeV-ish. You work it out.
The neutrino emissions from a supernova would be lethal to humans out to a light year or so. Really. Cross-section is ~10e-40 cm^2, average energy is 1 MeV-ish. You work it out.
Then it's a good thing the only star less than a light year or so away from us won't go supernova...
And how these neutrinos are supposed have an ionizing effect, exactly?
Charged current interaction, which is one aspect of the weak nuclear force. If you think about it, electrons must feel the week force, otherwise beta decay wouldn't happen.
Most neutrino detectors use see solar neutrinos this way: Cherenkov light from electrons kicked out by the charged current interaction. (The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, in contrast, was also sensitive to the neutral current interaction, which is what made it possible to determine that neutrinos have mass.)
I was going to reply with "work it out", but I see someone beat me to it. He even provided the necessary numbers, available on wikipedia.
Of course, if you're far enough away to survive all the other particles, the neutrinos aren't going to bother you, but you're right, it's interesting to know that neutrinos could kill you. It gives you something of sense of the scale of a supernova. It's even more satisfying to be able to work it out.
It gives you something of sense of the scale of a supernova.
Point taken. I suppose I didn't consider the sheer quantity of statistically insignificant interactions.
That being said, I'd still like to see something a little more substantive on the subject than back of the envelope calculations (and that includes my own). It isn't that I doubt the math for the values given so much as I doubt the question of neutrino lethality is simple enough to answer that easily.
I'm aware of neutrino induced fission as a means of interaction, and the prospect of mass fissioning of
You'd get radiation poisoning and die. If you were far enough away your hair would fall out and your intestines would start to disintegrate, then you'd die. If you were closer you'd get cooked like someone at Hiroshima. Even closer and you'd be vaporized. Or atomized, really.
Once you make up for the difference in interaction rates, neutrino radiation would have much the same effect on a person as x-rays or gamma rays.
New doomsday scenario? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:5, Informative)
Would the neutrinos affect us at all? Is this another doomsday scenario?
Please, please tell me this was a joke. Please tell me you actually understood what a neutrino is, and were intentionally posting something absurd.
In the off-chance you were serious, a neutrino doesn't interact with matter enough to do any damage. This is not a matter of any uncertainty. A single neutrino would have a chance of passing through several light years of solid lead without interacting with a single atom. Neutrinos are sleeting through your body right now from the centre of the sun; they pass
Re: (Score:5, Informative)
The neutrinos from a core collapse supernova would be lethal to humans at the distance of Jupiter. Any given neutrino has very little chance of hitting interacting with normal density matter it passes through, but there are a LOT of neutrinos: about 0.05 solar masses of them.
Furthermore, they are the first things that escape from the core (apart from gravitational waves) since they move at near-lightspeed and have very little chance of interacting with the envelope of the star. The big flashy special effe
Re:New doomsday scenario? (Score:2)
The neutrinos from a core collapse supernova would be lethal to humans at the distance of Jupiter
I'm not going to put an obnoxious citation needed tag here, but damned if I wasn't tempted. That's the first I've ever heard of neutrinos being deadly to anything at all. I'm understandably sceptical.
I don't suppose you remember the source for that? I'd be curious to see the details.
That being said, the distance between the sun and Jupiter is on the order of tens of light minutes, whereas here to Betelgeuse is hundreds of light years. They may both be, as you say, close to us in astronomical terms, but that isn't saying much. Not when stacked against a few orders of magnitude, anyway.
Re:New doomsday scenario? (Score:5, Interesting)
That's the first I've ever heard of neutrinos being deadly to anything at all. I'm understandably sceptical.
The neutrino emissions from a supernova would be lethal to humans out to a light year or so. Really. Cross-section is ~10e-40 cm^2, average energy is 1 MeV-ish. You work it out.
Re: (Score:1)
The neutrino emissions from a supernova would be lethal to humans out to a light year or so. Really. Cross-section is ~10e-40 cm^2, average energy is 1 MeV-ish. You work it out.
Then it's a good thing the only star less than a light year or so away from us won't go supernova...
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
Really. Cross-section is ~10e-40 cm^2, average energy is 1 MeV-ish. You work it out.
42!!
Re:New doomsday scenario? (Score:5, Informative)
And how these neutrinos are supposed have an ionizing effect, exactly?
Charged current interaction, which is one aspect of the weak nuclear force. If you think about it, electrons must feel the week force, otherwise beta decay wouldn't happen.
Most neutrino detectors use see solar neutrinos this way: Cherenkov light from electrons kicked out by the charged current interaction. (The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, in contrast, was also sensitive to the neutral current interaction, which is what made it possible to determine that neutrinos have mass.)
Re: (Score:1)
Cross-section is ~10e-40 cm^2, average energy is 1 MeV-ish. You work it out.
I just finished my third drink of the evening. I don't think I can work it out anymore.
Re: (Score:2)
I was going to reply with "work it out", but I see someone beat me to it. He even provided the necessary numbers, available on wikipedia.
Of course, if you're far enough away to survive all the other particles, the neutrinos aren't going to bother you, but you're right, it's interesting to know that neutrinos could kill you. It gives you something of sense of the scale of a supernova. It's even more satisfying to be able to work it out.
Re: (Score:2)
It gives you something of sense of the scale of a supernova.
Point taken. I suppose I didn't consider the sheer quantity of statistically insignificant interactions.
That being said, I'd still like to see something a little more substantive on the subject than back of the envelope calculations (and that includes my own). It isn't that I doubt the math for the values given so much as I doubt the question of neutrino lethality is simple enough to answer that easily.
I'm aware of neutrino induced fission as a means of interaction, and the prospect of mass fissioning of
Re: (Score:2)
What would you like? An experiment?
Re: (Score:2)
So exactly how would they kill you? Would it burn you or cook you or make you sick or what?
Re: (Score:2)
You'd get radiation poisoning and die. If you were far enough away your hair would fall out and your intestines would start to disintegrate, then you'd die. If you were closer you'd get cooked like someone at Hiroshima. Even closer and you'd be vaporized. Or atomized, really.
Once you make up for the difference in interaction rates, neutrino radiation would have much the same effect on a person as x-rays or gamma rays.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you, that was exactly the sort of thing I wanted to find :-)