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Comment by mmastrac | Hacker News Reader

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Supernovas and novas are different. The article mentions how the explosion will not be a supernova but a nova.

It's not a supernova, it's a nova. But I agree with you, stars work by nuclear fusion (thermonuclear fusion), so claiming that this event is "thermonuclear" is beyond stupid. The star is already thermonuclear.

"Thermonuclear", even in the colloquial sense, underwhelms the magnitude of this event by... a lot lol.

We measure nuclear detonations in 1-10 MT. A nova is more like 10^18-10^30 MT.

I was looking at a solar filament the other day. You know. Just a few hundred thousand kilometers long blast of superheated hydrogen plasma. The fact that this was just normal day-to-day operation of a G2 V star, and it would have consumed the entire planet of Earth, just is incomprehensible to most folks.

And that is Sol just happily percolating away. It isn't even the actions of a nova, never mind a supernova.

> The star is already thermonuclear

Well, since the star is currently a white dwarf, maybe it's not? Fusion doesn't occur on white dwarf stars.

I am on astronomy TikToks a lot these days. The amount of people who think the sun is a ball of lava is depressing. I am grateful of the steady, consistent education of physicists and astronomers who patiently explain the difference day-in, and day-out. ("No, it's far hotter than that...")

A recent astronomy video that really depressed me was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG8SwAFQFuU.

That you're "on astronomy TikToks a lot these days" is depressing.

I think it's a very good thing that science educators can reach millions and millions of people they couldn't before. Probably one of the few unequivocally good uses for social media / video sharing platforms.

Which part are you finding depressing?

I play them in the background while working. It's actually rather nice. Professor Nixy caught a flare that almost went X-class the other day.

Oh. Well, then you have me beat. When boredom increases and task difficulty decreases, my go-to work background is Twitch streams, which are perfect for background-filler purposes but make me want to kill myself. Astronomy TikToks are better.

Heh, a lot of snark to end up being wrong yourself.

White dwarfs are stellar remnants. They are not performing fusion in their cores like active stars.

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