# Before the Sun Becomes a Nova **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 20, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-the-sun-becomes-a-nova/658867 "2013-05-20T20:59:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-the-sun-becomes-a-nova/658867/21 "2013-05-22T15:29:53Z")
Gamma-ray bursts are over quickly. A sufficiently-nearby burst might flash-sterilize half the planet, but the other half won’t feel any direct effects from it. It might feel indirect effects, but those will mostly be carried by the atmosphere, and so won’t easily cross the Equator. So the only real global risk from a GRB would have to be from one near the plane of the equator, so as to hit both the North and South alike with the indirect effects. ---
**Author:** ![Bremidon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Bremidon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bremidon)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-the-sun-becomes-a-nova/658867/22 "2013-05-22T19:00:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Gamma-ray bursts are over quickly. A sufficiently-nearby burst might flash-sterilize half the planet, but the other half won’t feel any direct effects from it. It might feel indirect effects, but those will mostly be carried by the atmosphere, and so won’t easily cross the Equator. So the only real global risk from a GRB would have to be from one near the plane of the equator, so as to hit both the North and South alike with the indirect effects. I have always understood that the really bad long term effect from a GRB is that it utterly strips the planet of any protective layers like the ozone and such. The burst itself is only a matter of seconds, right? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-the-sun-becomes-a-nova/658867/23 "2013-05-22T19:09:41Z")
Plausible. I’ve also heard that it might produce opaque nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere, that would shade the surface. Either way, those would be atmospheric effects, which would as I said mostly not cross the Equator. ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-the-sun-becomes-a-nova/658867/24 "2013-05-23T03:11:38Z")
Set up a text notification for when the Sun changes it’s Facebook status. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-the-sun-becomes-a-nova/658867/25 "2013-05-23T03:35:00Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > We’ve got a billion years. Use the moon as a gravitational tug boat, and dock Earth into safe harbor over millions of years. Kid’s stuff. The moon’s not going to work; try an asteroid instead: [Astronomical engineering: a strategy for modifying planetary orbits](http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0102126) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-the-sun-becomes-a-nova/658867/26 "2013-05-23T05:50:47Z")
Mandatory Bruce Cockburn link: [When the Sun Goes Nova](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NClz-kqL82A) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2013, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-the-sun-becomes-a-nova/658867/27 "2013-05-23T05:53:04Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > [Inconstant Moon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inconstant_Moon_%28The_Outer_Limits%29). Adapted from his short story of the same name by Larry Niven. > > [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inconstant_Moon) about the short story. Niven pinched the idea of using the moon to detect a nova from Arthur C. Clarke, who used it in [Rescue Party.](http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/0743498747/0743498747___1.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/before-the-sun-becomes-a-nova/658867.md?page=1)