Ahem. Except, really,
no. I rolled my eyes when I read that bit. A Type Ia does put out more high-energy radiation than a Type II supernova, which is caused when a massive star’s core collapses and the outer layers are ejected. That’s what most people think of when they hear about a supernova. Those have to be really close to hurt us, certainly closer than 25 light years. But even with their added power, a Type Ia just doesn’t have the oomph needed to destroy our ozone layer (as the press release indicates) from 3300 light years away. It would have to be far closer than that.

I missed that press conference, but oh, how I wish I had been there! My friend Ian O’Neill
was able to track down some details, and found out that astronomers (including another friend, Alex Filippenko, who is an expert’s expert on supernovae) at the meeting took Sion to task for this claim. It looks like Sion used the wrong numbers for the gamma ray emission for a Type Ia event, instead using the emission from a gamma-ray burst… a far, far,
far more energetic event, and dangerous from several thousand light years away.
I don’t generally have too big an issue with a scientist getting a number wrong, but it depends on the circumstance. Issuing a press release saying, essentially, we’re all gonna die means they should do some due diligence. And in this specific case — they used the phrase "fry the Earth" for Pete’s sake! — means I am less willing to cut them slack. People get scared from stuff like this, and it’s simply wrong to feed that fire without making
really sure you have your numbers straight first.
I’ll note that scientists tend not to write press releases, and it can be hard to rein in the PR author if they are not that familiar with the science (which I’ve seen many times). But
even if the numbers in the PR were correct, the phrasing of that last paragraph is unacceptable. Whoever wrote the release should have known the media would zero in on that phrase.
My buddy Ian O’Neil,
in his post at Discovery News, points out
The Daily Telegraph did just that, printing an article with the headline, "Earth ‘to be wiped out’ by supernova explosion". The UK paper
The Sun — which is so awful fish complain when you wrap them in it —
had a similar article with the tagline, "A star primed to explode in a blast that could wipe out the Earth was revealed by astronomers yesterday."
Sheesh.
It’s too bad. There was no need to disaster-porn this release up the way it was done. Recurrent novae and Type Ia supernovae are fascinating, well worth our attention for any number of reasons including of course their potential danger. But it’s a not-too-fine line between piquing interest and tarting up the science.