Could this star end life on Earth?
Social media has been abuzz with warnings about a giant star threatening to obliterate life on earth, but is there really anything for us to worry about?
The enormous star Eta Carinae, more than 100 times the size of our sun and a whopping 7500-light years away, is approaching the end of its life
In a way, the giant star is eating itself. All the good fuel has been burnt and it is living on whatever is left.
If it is helium, the star could stay alive for hundreds of thousands of years, but if it is carbon or oxygen, it could be on the way out in the near future - even tomorrow, according to News Corp.
While those behind the social media posts think the death of the star will mean destruction on planet earth, most astrophysicists believe we are safe.
The difference between the two opinions is how the star will come to an end.
“Simply put, Eta Carinae is a supermassive stellar powder keg nearing the end of its fuse,” Scientific American wrote in an article allaying fears of the end of the world.
That makes Eta Carinae’s nickname of the ‘Death Star’ quite appropriate.
The main fear for mass-extinction on Earth lies with the threat of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) blasting any biosphere in its path to oblivion.
Should that happen, the sky above Earth would fill with light much brighter than the sun, tearing apart the ozone layer, incinerating virtually everything on the side of the planet facing the star, and sending radioactive particles raining down.
But that is worst case scenario.
According to Scientific American most astrophysicists believe Eta Carinae will not produce a gamma-ray burst at all.
Instead they think when it does meet its demise, it will most likely reach the brightness of a full moon, before gradually fading into darkness.
Astrophysicist Dr Alan Duffy said Earth’s distance from the star meant life on Earth was safe.
“There’s no danger from this star exploding even as a GRB as we simply aren’t close enough to it and it’s not pointing in our direction in any case,” Dr Duffy told News Corp.
Morning news break – December 18
