4 ms·

> While SN 1006 did not appear to have such significant effects, a signal of its eruption can be found in nitrate deposits in Antarctic ice. Not heard about th

by hartror 12y ago

> While SN 1006 did not appear to have such significant effects, a signal of its eruption can be found in nitrate deposits in Antarctic ice. Not heard about this, are there any other signs from supernova we have detected on Earth?

peckrob 12y ago
While it's not an exact parallel, core collapse supernovas unleash large amounts of neutrinos. These are detectable on Earth even before the light from the supernova explosion reaches us. This was the case with SN 1987a, where about 2-3 hours before the visible light reached Earth, neutrinos from the event were detected [0]. In the intervening years, we've actually build a "network" of neutrino observatories that cooperate and share event data, called SNEWS (SuperNova Early Warning System) [1], that will (hopefully) give us a little warning before the next major supernova event. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A#Neutrino_emissions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A#Neutrino_emissions [1] http://snews.bnl.gov/ http://snews.bnl.gov/
- desdiv 12y ago
  How come the neutrinos can reach us before the light does? I thought that neutrinos traveled at the speed of light? Sorry if this is a stupid question.
  - petercooper 12y ago
    This is answered here: http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/90708/neutrinos-arrived-before-the-photons-supernova http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/90708/neutrinos-a...
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > How come the neutrinos can reach us before the light does? I thought that neutrinos traveled at the speed of light? The neutrinos are, I would assume, emitted before the light is.
  - tjradcliffe 12y ago
    More to the point, the neutrinos don't interact with anything on the way out of the star. They are generated at the core an leave at c. The light is a product of the shock wave reaching the surface, which happens a long time later, basically because the speed of sound in any reasonable medium is a lot less than the speed of light.

by hartror 12y ago

peckrob 12y ago

While it's not an exact parallel, core collapse supernovas unleash large amounts of neutrinos. These are detectable on Earth even before the light from the supernova explosion reaches us. This was the case with SN 1987a, where about 2-3 hours before the visible light reached Earth, neutrinos from the event were detected [0]. In the intervening years, we've actually build a "network" of neutrino observatories that cooperate and share event data, called SNEWS (SuperNova Early Warning System) [1], that will (hopefully) give us a little warning before the next major supernova event. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A#Neutrino_emissions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A#Neutrino_emissions [1] http://snews.bnl.gov/ http://snews.bnl.gov/

desdiv 12y ago
How come the neutrinos can reach us before the light does? I thought that neutrinos traveled at the speed of light? Sorry if this is a stupid question.
- petercooper 12y ago
  This is answered here: http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/90708/neutrinos-arrived-before-the-photons-supernova http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/90708/neutrinos-a...
dragonwriter 12y ago
> How come the neutrinos can reach us before the light does? I thought that neutrinos traveled at the speed of light? The neutrinos are, I would assume, emitted before the light is.
- tjradcliffe 12y ago
  More to the point, the neutrinos don't interact with anything on the way out of the star. They are generated at the core an leave at c. The light is a product of the shock wave reaching the surface, which happens a long time later, basically because the speed of sound in any reasonable medium is a lot less than the speed of light.