# Proxima as Supernova [closed]

Follow this question. Let's say Proxima Centauri explodes as a Supernova (I know, it CANNOT explode as supernova, let's say it can. I know, it should had exploded more than 4 years ago, let's assume that)...

How bright will it be?

It will impact us (life on earth and/or technology)?

• None of these stars is massive enough to undergo a supernova explosion. I'm voting to close this question as off-topic as it is a hypothetical scenario that would at minimum require sufficient engineering to put it outside the scope of astronomy. – antispinwards Oct 30 '19 at 20:29
• I think recent edits mean this question should be reopened. – Ingolifs Nov 1 '19 at 2:23

Proxima Centauri can't explode as supernova as it is about 2 orders of magnitude too small and light.

But if a supernova were to happen from that distance? How bright would it be?

You can use the formula: $$\text{Apparent magnitude} = \text{Absolute magnitude}+5log_{10}(distance)-5$$ where the distance is in parsecs.

Proxima centauri is 1.3 parsecs distant.

A supernova typically has an absolute magnitude between -15 and -19 (although they can go brighter or dimmer in the case of hypernovas etc). So Let's use -15 as the low end and -19 as the high end.

Plugging into the equation, we get an apparent magnitude of between -18 and -23.

For comparison, the sun as seen from earth has an apparent magnitude of about -26, so the supernova would be between 1500 and 15 times dimmer than the sun from earth.

Perusing the list in the Wikipedia article on apparent magnitude, we find the brightness of the supernova would be between the brightness of the Sun viewed from Jupiter and the Sun viewed from Pluto. In any case, that is plenty of light to read by, and plenty of light to see colour by.

• Would the ejected material or the high energy radiation & particles effect us? – SpaceBread Oct 31 '19 at 8:58