Star set to explode and wipe out the Earth
January 7, 2010
Astronomers in Philadelphia have announced that a star only 3,260 light-years away from earth is on the verge of exploding. They have warned that when T Pyxidis eventually becomes a supernova then the resulting blast could strip away the earth’s ozone layer exposing it to deadly space radiation. The astronomers say that when the white dwarf reaches critical mass it will explode with the force of twenty billion billion billion megatons of TNT. When this happens the ensuing firework will be brighter than the combination of all the other stars in the night sky according to the scientists.
Timothy McClain, Patrick Godon and Edward M Sion who work at the American Astronomical Society say that T Pyxidis has been emitting a series of minor explosions known as nova once every twenty years or so since 1890. These explosions are said to be the precursors to the star going supernova. In 1967 the last nova was recorded meaning that another explosion is now long overdue and the next one could be the big one. In space terms the distance between the Earth and T Pyxidis is not very far at all and the Hubble space telescope has been recording the stars progress as it gears up to the big bang.
Vice President of the Society for Popular Astronomy in the U.K., Robert Scagell has pointed out that even though T Pyxidis may well go supernova in the near future people should not start to panic about the end of the world as the term ’soon’ when used by astronomers could be a long way off.
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