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.
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:
A supernova, seen from as far away as the Sun is from the Earth, or
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.
The neutrinos? According to the article you’d probably be inside the star to be at the neutrino-lethal distance, so you’ll clearly be dead before it even goes supernova. :-)
If it were still lethal at a distance you could survive, my slightly informed guess is that it could matter, as AFAIK supernovas tend to release the neutrinos before most of the light.
However I have no idea for how long the main part of the neutrino flood last or how long it’ll take to kill you, could be anything from less than a second to minutes or hours, at which time you’d certainly be dead from the rest of the supernova.
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.
My favorite fact from that article (indeed xkcd) isn’t about neutrinos though, but this:
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/
So would that actually make a difference to the speed at which you’re incinerated?
The neutrinos? According to the article you’d probably be inside the star to be at the neutrino-lethal distance, so you’ll clearly be dead before it even goes supernova. :-)
If it were still lethal at a distance you could survive, my slightly informed guess is that it could matter, as AFAIK supernovas tend to release the neutrinos before most of the light.
However I have no idea for how long the main part of the neutrino flood last or how long it’ll take to kill you, could be anything from less than a second to minutes or hours, at which time you’d certainly be dead from the rest of the supernova.
Oh i had forgotten that! Thanks for reminding me!