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Neutrinos almost never interact with matter. The closet supernova in recent history[1] was detected via neutrinos with 11 observed. I can't imagine the number o

• frumiousirc 8y ago
  Knowing the relative energy carried away from the supernova by photons and by neutrinos (1:100), photon and neutrino energy spectra, neutrino cross section and the size of the IMB and Kamiokande detectors you can estimate the flux of photons through some hypothetical light detector (sometimes called a "telescope"). Probably some model for interstellar gas is needed to account for scatter or absorb the photons.
• yummypaint 8y ago
  Despite how little neutrinos interact with matter, my understanding is that much of the pressure that actually drives a supernova explosion is caused by them. Their mean free path in lead is about a light year, so imagine how many neutrinos must be produced in a supernova. Now remember that we only detected 11 of them here on Earth using detectors that are massive on a human scale. Space is huge.