• Narrrz@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    I recall reading something - maybe it was from xkcd? - about how close to a supernova you’d have to be for the neutrino radiation alone to deliver a lethal dose. I think the conclusion was about 1au away, probably well inside the radius of the star that was exploding.

    Since i believe supernovae are one of the few significant sources of neutrinos, to have to be so close to the source that you would have long since died of other causes before you could absorb significant energy from neutrinos speaks to how little they actually interact with matter.

    • exscape@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      My favorite fact from that article (indeed xkcd) isn’t about neutrinos though, but this:

      Which of the following would be brighter, in terms of the amount of energy delivered to your retina:

      1. A supernova, seen from as far away as the Sun is from the Earth, or
      2. The detonation of a hydrogen bomb pressed against your eyeball?

      The answer is the supernova, by 9 orders of magnitude. So the supernova at the Sun’s distance is about a billion times brighter than a hydrogen bomb pressed against your eyeball.

      https://what-if.xkcd.com/73/