If the sun were to supernova, why would we not be able to see it before it kills us, even though nothing travels faster than the speed of causality?

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Since nothing travels faster than the speed of causality/speed of light, why is it said that if the sun were to explode we would not know, or see it, until we died?

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5 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

As it stands right now, whatever we see of the sun is from (roughly) 7.5 minutes ago. A star going supernova is really fast, and releases a lot of energy. By the time the supernova “wall” reaches us, the deadly heat of the Sun will have essentially cooked us alive before we get the visual effect of it.

Anonymous 0 Comments

The radiation that would kill us travels at the speed of light, and would kill a person pretty much instantly. Can’t see stuff if you’re dead. If you’re on the other side of the planet, you might not die and would know that death is coming with the dawn. But you’d die pretty much instantly, before your eyes and brain could process anything.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because the enormous amounts of heat, light, UV, and x-rays will kill you. It’s not the “blast” of the explosion, it’s the EM radiation it emits that will kill you instantly.

Anonymous 0 Comments

You mean if our Sun hypothetically had enough mass to go supernova in the first place?

Because the radiation a supernova creates would travel *almost* at the same speed as the light. In our limited sensory experience, it might as well be “at the same time”. So, you’d be dead before your brain could register any change.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Would the neutrino flux kill us before the light made it to the surface of the sun?