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If every star in the universe except the Sun were destroyed, would we die?
What stellar number density would two galaxies have to have for another star to collide with the Sun during a galactic merger?A weapon to attack the Solar SystemHeavy metal planets in a globular clusterCan you replace a sun with a burning moon?What's the largest body in the solar system that you could destroy without endangering humanity?How to destroy a star system?How do you non-catastrophically reduce the mass of the Sun by half?Aliens englobed the Solar System: will we notice?Designing (a specific kind of) dark matter
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$begingroup$
If every star and planetary system and blackhole—all mass (not sure whether to include dark matter or not) except what directly makes up our solar system—in the Universe except the Sun were wiped from existence (not explosively destroyed) would the existence of life on Earth be immediately (~within a few years of us noticing they'd disappeared) threatened?
science-based survival stars universe
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If every star and planetary system and blackhole—all mass (not sure whether to include dark matter or not) except what directly makes up our solar system—in the Universe except the Sun were wiped from existence (not explosively destroyed) would the existence of life on Earth be immediately (~within a few years of us noticing they'd disappeared) threatened?
science-based survival stars universe
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
This question is meaningless in the context of the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe (as per FLRW ). For everything to vanish, some of it would essentially have to had never existed at all - we see galaxies that were formed in the first period of star and galaxy formation because of that speed of light issue.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
7 hours ago
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In addition to what StephenG said, even a single star disappearing is probably impossible in the context of general relativity, since GR has local conservation of mass/energy, and its sudden disappearance it would seem to imply an instantaneous change in the curvature of spacetime which I don't think is allowed. Might be better to imagine all the stars being transformed into dark matter or something, so their gravitational effects wouldn't change instantaneously (though in time the dark matter would disperse over a larger region) but they would cease to emit electromagnetic radiation.
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– Hypnosifl
6 hours ago
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@Hypnosifl I am interested in the gravitational effects just .... weirdly disappearing.
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– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@elemtilas thanks for the edit, that title's much clearer.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
If you want the gravitational effects to disappear I think you might have to switch from general relativity, where this is probably just impossible (violates the basic equations), to some approximate theory like Newtonian gravity or the weak-field limit of GR (the latter is more accurate since it has gravitational effects travel at the speed of light).
$endgroup$
– Hypnosifl
5 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
If every star and planetary system and blackhole—all mass (not sure whether to include dark matter or not) except what directly makes up our solar system—in the Universe except the Sun were wiped from existence (not explosively destroyed) would the existence of life on Earth be immediately (~within a few years of us noticing they'd disappeared) threatened?
science-based survival stars universe
$endgroup$
If every star and planetary system and blackhole—all mass (not sure whether to include dark matter or not) except what directly makes up our solar system—in the Universe except the Sun were wiped from existence (not explosively destroyed) would the existence of life on Earth be immediately (~within a few years of us noticing they'd disappeared) threatened?
science-based survival stars universe
science-based survival stars universe
edited 5 hours ago
Cyn
19.1k2 gold badges37 silver badges86 bronze badges
19.1k2 gold badges37 silver badges86 bronze badges
asked 8 hours ago
theonlygustitheonlygusti
1,2178 silver badges24 bronze badges
1,2178 silver badges24 bronze badges
$begingroup$
This question is meaningless in the context of the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe (as per FLRW ). For everything to vanish, some of it would essentially have to had never existed at all - we see galaxies that were formed in the first period of star and galaxy formation because of that speed of light issue.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
In addition to what StephenG said, even a single star disappearing is probably impossible in the context of general relativity, since GR has local conservation of mass/energy, and its sudden disappearance it would seem to imply an instantaneous change in the curvature of spacetime which I don't think is allowed. Might be better to imagine all the stars being transformed into dark matter or something, so their gravitational effects wouldn't change instantaneously (though in time the dark matter would disperse over a larger region) but they would cease to emit electromagnetic radiation.
$endgroup$
– Hypnosifl
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Hypnosifl I am interested in the gravitational effects just .... weirdly disappearing.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@elemtilas thanks for the edit, that title's much clearer.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
If you want the gravitational effects to disappear I think you might have to switch from general relativity, where this is probably just impossible (violates the basic equations), to some approximate theory like Newtonian gravity or the weak-field limit of GR (the latter is more accurate since it has gravitational effects travel at the speed of light).
$endgroup$
– Hypnosifl
5 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
This question is meaningless in the context of the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe (as per FLRW ). For everything to vanish, some of it would essentially have to had never existed at all - we see galaxies that were formed in the first period of star and galaxy formation because of that speed of light issue.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
In addition to what StephenG said, even a single star disappearing is probably impossible in the context of general relativity, since GR has local conservation of mass/energy, and its sudden disappearance it would seem to imply an instantaneous change in the curvature of spacetime which I don't think is allowed. Might be better to imagine all the stars being transformed into dark matter or something, so their gravitational effects wouldn't change instantaneously (though in time the dark matter would disperse over a larger region) but they would cease to emit electromagnetic radiation.
$endgroup$
– Hypnosifl
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Hypnosifl I am interested in the gravitational effects just .... weirdly disappearing.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@elemtilas thanks for the edit, that title's much clearer.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
If you want the gravitational effects to disappear I think you might have to switch from general relativity, where this is probably just impossible (violates the basic equations), to some approximate theory like Newtonian gravity or the weak-field limit of GR (the latter is more accurate since it has gravitational effects travel at the speed of light).
$endgroup$
– Hypnosifl
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
This question is meaningless in the context of the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe (as per FLRW ). For everything to vanish, some of it would essentially have to had never existed at all - we see galaxies that were formed in the first period of star and galaxy formation because of that speed of light issue.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
This question is meaningless in the context of the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe (as per FLRW ). For everything to vanish, some of it would essentially have to had never existed at all - we see galaxies that were formed in the first period of star and galaxy formation because of that speed of light issue.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
In addition to what StephenG said, even a single star disappearing is probably impossible in the context of general relativity, since GR has local conservation of mass/energy, and its sudden disappearance it would seem to imply an instantaneous change in the curvature of spacetime which I don't think is allowed. Might be better to imagine all the stars being transformed into dark matter or something, so their gravitational effects wouldn't change instantaneously (though in time the dark matter would disperse over a larger region) but they would cease to emit electromagnetic radiation.
$endgroup$
– Hypnosifl
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
In addition to what StephenG said, even a single star disappearing is probably impossible in the context of general relativity, since GR has local conservation of mass/energy, and its sudden disappearance it would seem to imply an instantaneous change in the curvature of spacetime which I don't think is allowed. Might be better to imagine all the stars being transformed into dark matter or something, so their gravitational effects wouldn't change instantaneously (though in time the dark matter would disperse over a larger region) but they would cease to emit electromagnetic radiation.
$endgroup$
– Hypnosifl
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Hypnosifl I am interested in the gravitational effects just .... weirdly disappearing.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
@Hypnosifl I am interested in the gravitational effects just .... weirdly disappearing.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
@elemtilas thanks for the edit, that title's much clearer.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
@elemtilas thanks for the edit, that title's much clearer.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
If you want the gravitational effects to disappear I think you might have to switch from general relativity, where this is probably just impossible (violates the basic equations), to some approximate theory like Newtonian gravity or the weak-field limit of GR (the latter is more accurate since it has gravitational effects travel at the speed of light).
$endgroup$
– Hypnosifl
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
If you want the gravitational effects to disappear I think you might have to switch from general relativity, where this is probably just impossible (violates the basic equations), to some approximate theory like Newtonian gravity or the weak-field limit of GR (the latter is more accurate since it has gravitational effects travel at the speed of light).
$endgroup$
– Hypnosifl
5 hours ago
add a comment |
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
We wouldn't even notice for several years.
The closest star to us (aside from the Sun) is Alpha Centauri, which is just over 4 light-years away. That means that whenever we look at Alpha Centauri from earth, we are seeing light that left the star over 4 years ago. If Alpha Centauri were extinguished today, we wouldn't even realize it until 4 years from now! For most stars, it will take decades, centuries, or longer before we see them wink out of existence - whatever effect that might have, it will definitely not be "immediate".
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Good point, I'll reword the question—forgot to think about distance and speed of light, thanks for pointing it out
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The re-phrased question is what's interesting to me, can you answer that instead? The current answer is not an answer to the question.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
Example: The light reaching us from rather ordinary galaxy NGC907 started it's journey over a million years before the dinosaurs died off, and many millions of years before our ancestors began climbing in trees.
$endgroup$
– user535733
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
No. Life on Earth and our solar system in general would not be harmed by this sudden universal destruction.
Everything outside of the Solar system affects us via electromagnetic radiation, gravity, and "matter transfer".
The EM radiation flux is too weak to really do much, other than marvel at through telescopes. With the rest of the universe gone we'd actually be safe from the potential of a nearby Gamma Ray Burst.
The gravitational influence of our stellar neighborhood is far too weak to majorly change anything like planetary orbits. Same goes for the galactic center we orbit around. So probably no kicking asteroids or comets on a collision course with us.
The final chance for an influence is through "matter exchange". There's no longer the chance for big rocks to come sailing through our solar system from beyond, so again we're safer here. No more worrying about rogue black holes or ejected exo-planets disrupting local orbits.
We do lose Cosmic Rays in this ordeal, though. Cosmic rays produce most of the Carbon 14 we could use for radio-carbon dating, but we've already messed that balance up through weapons testing.
I don't know enough about biochemistry to attest to the importance of the isotopes produced by cosmic rays, but at a casual glace and google they don't seem to be terribly impactful or necessary.
So without cosmic rays our background radiation levels would decrease and electronics would become slightly more reliable. Once again we are made even safer.
Ultimately we will perish as a species when the sun goes through its stellar life-cycle and the solar system (now entire universe) cools... but that'll probably happen anyways on a longer time scale if the Heat Death of the Universe holds true.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Nothing would happen. Solar system is self-sufficient enough. It would be only little influenced if rest of universe somehow ceased to exist.
That said, anything that would preserve our little bubble intact and simultaneously destroyed everything else, is almost certainly unimaginable to science.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Mmm this is my first inclination also. Do you have citations/proof as to why though?
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
There would be basically no effect.
First off, even gravitation is governed by the speed of light, so we would not notice for thousands of years (well, we'd notice Alpha Centauri after about 4 years). By the currently understood laws of physics, no information about a remote object can travel faster than the speed of light. We theoretically will see some hilariously small quantum fluctuation differences, but we wouldn't actually be able to prove anything from them until information traveling at the speed of light catches up.
However, this can be taken in another way. Since you're looking at gravitation, we can compute the effects. Distance is a major player in this equation, so lets pick the closest star, Alpha Centauri. It is 4.3 light years away. that's $4.132cdot 10^16 text m$ away. Its mass is roughly 0.123 solar masses, or $2.446cdot 10^29 textkg$. Throwing them into $a_grav=fracGMr^2$ we get an acceleration of $9.5cdot10^-15fractext mtext s^2$(G is $6.674cdot10−11 fractextm^3kgcdot s^2$, if you want to run those numbers). So while the earth is pulling on us at $9.8fractext mtext s^2$, A. centauri is pulling with a whopping $0.0000000000000095fractext mtext s^2$
Now note the r-squared term. That's why the gravity of Earth is such a big deal and A. centauri, as big as it is, isn't a big deal. The gravitational effects of far away objects is pretty negligible. If there was something that kept emitting light where A. centauri was, we wouldn't even detect it.
In the long run, these small things would matter. If the galaxy vanished, we would stop orbiting the galaxy. Our orbit around the center of the galaxy has a period of about 200 million years, so you'd start to notice the loss of that mass after a million or so years.
The bigger issue would be the worldbuilding problem. Something just broke all of our known laws of physics, and did it in a blink of an eye. What was that thing? How does it work?
And is it still hungry?
These are important questions for the denizens of the last surviving solar system in the universe.
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add a comment |
$begingroup$
It would take time, but yes life would cease as we would have fallen out of the the fabled "Goldilocks Zone" (Wikipedia link here). That said, like Nuclear Wang said it would take time. The other thing to take into account gravitational mass that happens when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole. So, this would also throw our solar system into a state of disarray and things would change as orbits changed/decayed. This could speed up the process or not --- depending a huge array of variables which go far beyond my understanding (where is Neil Degrasse Tyson when you need him!)
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5
$begingroup$
...when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole I don't believe this is the case. Most stars are, AFAIK, too small to become black holes.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Why would we fall out of the goldilocks zone? And none of the stars would become blackholes. All of the matter that makes them up simple vanishes.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
Although Earth is indeed expected to eventually fall out of Goldilocks zone and become too hot to support life, this has nothing to do with other stars.
$endgroup$
– Alexander
5 hours ago
add a comment |
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5 Answers
5
active
oldest
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5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
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active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
We wouldn't even notice for several years.
The closest star to us (aside from the Sun) is Alpha Centauri, which is just over 4 light-years away. That means that whenever we look at Alpha Centauri from earth, we are seeing light that left the star over 4 years ago. If Alpha Centauri were extinguished today, we wouldn't even realize it until 4 years from now! For most stars, it will take decades, centuries, or longer before we see them wink out of existence - whatever effect that might have, it will definitely not be "immediate".
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Good point, I'll reword the question—forgot to think about distance and speed of light, thanks for pointing it out
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The re-phrased question is what's interesting to me, can you answer that instead? The current answer is not an answer to the question.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
Example: The light reaching us from rather ordinary galaxy NGC907 started it's journey over a million years before the dinosaurs died off, and many millions of years before our ancestors began climbing in trees.
$endgroup$
– user535733
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
We wouldn't even notice for several years.
The closest star to us (aside from the Sun) is Alpha Centauri, which is just over 4 light-years away. That means that whenever we look at Alpha Centauri from earth, we are seeing light that left the star over 4 years ago. If Alpha Centauri were extinguished today, we wouldn't even realize it until 4 years from now! For most stars, it will take decades, centuries, or longer before we see them wink out of existence - whatever effect that might have, it will definitely not be "immediate".
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Good point, I'll reword the question—forgot to think about distance and speed of light, thanks for pointing it out
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The re-phrased question is what's interesting to me, can you answer that instead? The current answer is not an answer to the question.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
Example: The light reaching us from rather ordinary galaxy NGC907 started it's journey over a million years before the dinosaurs died off, and many millions of years before our ancestors began climbing in trees.
$endgroup$
– user535733
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
We wouldn't even notice for several years.
The closest star to us (aside from the Sun) is Alpha Centauri, which is just over 4 light-years away. That means that whenever we look at Alpha Centauri from earth, we are seeing light that left the star over 4 years ago. If Alpha Centauri were extinguished today, we wouldn't even realize it until 4 years from now! For most stars, it will take decades, centuries, or longer before we see them wink out of existence - whatever effect that might have, it will definitely not be "immediate".
$endgroup$
We wouldn't even notice for several years.
The closest star to us (aside from the Sun) is Alpha Centauri, which is just over 4 light-years away. That means that whenever we look at Alpha Centauri from earth, we are seeing light that left the star over 4 years ago. If Alpha Centauri were extinguished today, we wouldn't even realize it until 4 years from now! For most stars, it will take decades, centuries, or longer before we see them wink out of existence - whatever effect that might have, it will definitely not be "immediate".
edited 7 hours ago
answered 8 hours ago
Nuclear WangNuclear Wang
3,2482 gold badges10 silver badges16 bronze badges
3,2482 gold badges10 silver badges16 bronze badges
$begingroup$
Good point, I'll reword the question—forgot to think about distance and speed of light, thanks for pointing it out
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The re-phrased question is what's interesting to me, can you answer that instead? The current answer is not an answer to the question.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
Example: The light reaching us from rather ordinary galaxy NGC907 started it's journey over a million years before the dinosaurs died off, and many millions of years before our ancestors began climbing in trees.
$endgroup$
– user535733
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Good point, I'll reword the question—forgot to think about distance and speed of light, thanks for pointing it out
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The re-phrased question is what's interesting to me, can you answer that instead? The current answer is not an answer to the question.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
Example: The light reaching us from rather ordinary galaxy NGC907 started it's journey over a million years before the dinosaurs died off, and many millions of years before our ancestors began climbing in trees.
$endgroup$
– user535733
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Good point, I'll reword the question—forgot to think about distance and speed of light, thanks for pointing it out
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
Good point, I'll reword the question—forgot to think about distance and speed of light, thanks for pointing it out
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
The re-phrased question is what's interesting to me, can you answer that instead? The current answer is not an answer to the question.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
The re-phrased question is what's interesting to me, can you answer that instead? The current answer is not an answer to the question.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
Example: The light reaching us from rather ordinary galaxy NGC907 started it's journey over a million years before the dinosaurs died off, and many millions of years before our ancestors began climbing in trees.
$endgroup$
– user535733
1 hour ago
$begingroup$
Example: The light reaching us from rather ordinary galaxy NGC907 started it's journey over a million years before the dinosaurs died off, and many millions of years before our ancestors began climbing in trees.
$endgroup$
– user535733
1 hour ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
No. Life on Earth and our solar system in general would not be harmed by this sudden universal destruction.
Everything outside of the Solar system affects us via electromagnetic radiation, gravity, and "matter transfer".
The EM radiation flux is too weak to really do much, other than marvel at through telescopes. With the rest of the universe gone we'd actually be safe from the potential of a nearby Gamma Ray Burst.
The gravitational influence of our stellar neighborhood is far too weak to majorly change anything like planetary orbits. Same goes for the galactic center we orbit around. So probably no kicking asteroids or comets on a collision course with us.
The final chance for an influence is through "matter exchange". There's no longer the chance for big rocks to come sailing through our solar system from beyond, so again we're safer here. No more worrying about rogue black holes or ejected exo-planets disrupting local orbits.
We do lose Cosmic Rays in this ordeal, though. Cosmic rays produce most of the Carbon 14 we could use for radio-carbon dating, but we've already messed that balance up through weapons testing.
I don't know enough about biochemistry to attest to the importance of the isotopes produced by cosmic rays, but at a casual glace and google they don't seem to be terribly impactful or necessary.
So without cosmic rays our background radiation levels would decrease and electronics would become slightly more reliable. Once again we are made even safer.
Ultimately we will perish as a species when the sun goes through its stellar life-cycle and the solar system (now entire universe) cools... but that'll probably happen anyways on a longer time scale if the Heat Death of the Universe holds true.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
No. Life on Earth and our solar system in general would not be harmed by this sudden universal destruction.
Everything outside of the Solar system affects us via electromagnetic radiation, gravity, and "matter transfer".
The EM radiation flux is too weak to really do much, other than marvel at through telescopes. With the rest of the universe gone we'd actually be safe from the potential of a nearby Gamma Ray Burst.
The gravitational influence of our stellar neighborhood is far too weak to majorly change anything like planetary orbits. Same goes for the galactic center we orbit around. So probably no kicking asteroids or comets on a collision course with us.
The final chance for an influence is through "matter exchange". There's no longer the chance for big rocks to come sailing through our solar system from beyond, so again we're safer here. No more worrying about rogue black holes or ejected exo-planets disrupting local orbits.
We do lose Cosmic Rays in this ordeal, though. Cosmic rays produce most of the Carbon 14 we could use for radio-carbon dating, but we've already messed that balance up through weapons testing.
I don't know enough about biochemistry to attest to the importance of the isotopes produced by cosmic rays, but at a casual glace and google they don't seem to be terribly impactful or necessary.
So without cosmic rays our background radiation levels would decrease and electronics would become slightly more reliable. Once again we are made even safer.
Ultimately we will perish as a species when the sun goes through its stellar life-cycle and the solar system (now entire universe) cools... but that'll probably happen anyways on a longer time scale if the Heat Death of the Universe holds true.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
No. Life on Earth and our solar system in general would not be harmed by this sudden universal destruction.
Everything outside of the Solar system affects us via electromagnetic radiation, gravity, and "matter transfer".
The EM radiation flux is too weak to really do much, other than marvel at through telescopes. With the rest of the universe gone we'd actually be safe from the potential of a nearby Gamma Ray Burst.
The gravitational influence of our stellar neighborhood is far too weak to majorly change anything like planetary orbits. Same goes for the galactic center we orbit around. So probably no kicking asteroids or comets on a collision course with us.
The final chance for an influence is through "matter exchange". There's no longer the chance for big rocks to come sailing through our solar system from beyond, so again we're safer here. No more worrying about rogue black holes or ejected exo-planets disrupting local orbits.
We do lose Cosmic Rays in this ordeal, though. Cosmic rays produce most of the Carbon 14 we could use for radio-carbon dating, but we've already messed that balance up through weapons testing.
I don't know enough about biochemistry to attest to the importance of the isotopes produced by cosmic rays, but at a casual glace and google they don't seem to be terribly impactful or necessary.
So without cosmic rays our background radiation levels would decrease and electronics would become slightly more reliable. Once again we are made even safer.
Ultimately we will perish as a species when the sun goes through its stellar life-cycle and the solar system (now entire universe) cools... but that'll probably happen anyways on a longer time scale if the Heat Death of the Universe holds true.
$endgroup$
No. Life on Earth and our solar system in general would not be harmed by this sudden universal destruction.
Everything outside of the Solar system affects us via electromagnetic radiation, gravity, and "matter transfer".
The EM radiation flux is too weak to really do much, other than marvel at through telescopes. With the rest of the universe gone we'd actually be safe from the potential of a nearby Gamma Ray Burst.
The gravitational influence of our stellar neighborhood is far too weak to majorly change anything like planetary orbits. Same goes for the galactic center we orbit around. So probably no kicking asteroids or comets on a collision course with us.
The final chance for an influence is through "matter exchange". There's no longer the chance for big rocks to come sailing through our solar system from beyond, so again we're safer here. No more worrying about rogue black holes or ejected exo-planets disrupting local orbits.
We do lose Cosmic Rays in this ordeal, though. Cosmic rays produce most of the Carbon 14 we could use for radio-carbon dating, but we've already messed that balance up through weapons testing.
I don't know enough about biochemistry to attest to the importance of the isotopes produced by cosmic rays, but at a casual glace and google they don't seem to be terribly impactful or necessary.
So without cosmic rays our background radiation levels would decrease and electronics would become slightly more reliable. Once again we are made even safer.
Ultimately we will perish as a species when the sun goes through its stellar life-cycle and the solar system (now entire universe) cools... but that'll probably happen anyways on a longer time scale if the Heat Death of the Universe holds true.
answered 5 hours ago
abestrangeabestrange
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$begingroup$
Nothing would happen. Solar system is self-sufficient enough. It would be only little influenced if rest of universe somehow ceased to exist.
That said, anything that would preserve our little bubble intact and simultaneously destroyed everything else, is almost certainly unimaginable to science.
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Mmm this is my first inclination also. Do you have citations/proof as to why though?
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Nothing would happen. Solar system is self-sufficient enough. It would be only little influenced if rest of universe somehow ceased to exist.
That said, anything that would preserve our little bubble intact and simultaneously destroyed everything else, is almost certainly unimaginable to science.
$endgroup$
$begingroup$
Mmm this is my first inclination also. Do you have citations/proof as to why though?
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Nothing would happen. Solar system is self-sufficient enough. It would be only little influenced if rest of universe somehow ceased to exist.
That said, anything that would preserve our little bubble intact and simultaneously destroyed everything else, is almost certainly unimaginable to science.
$endgroup$
Nothing would happen. Solar system is self-sufficient enough. It would be only little influenced if rest of universe somehow ceased to exist.
That said, anything that would preserve our little bubble intact and simultaneously destroyed everything else, is almost certainly unimaginable to science.
answered 5 hours ago
JurajJuraj
9102 silver badges6 bronze badges
9102 silver badges6 bronze badges
$begingroup$
Mmm this is my first inclination also. Do you have citations/proof as to why though?
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Mmm this is my first inclination also. Do you have citations/proof as to why though?
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
Mmm this is my first inclination also. Do you have citations/proof as to why though?
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
Mmm this is my first inclination also. Do you have citations/proof as to why though?
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
There would be basically no effect.
First off, even gravitation is governed by the speed of light, so we would not notice for thousands of years (well, we'd notice Alpha Centauri after about 4 years). By the currently understood laws of physics, no information about a remote object can travel faster than the speed of light. We theoretically will see some hilariously small quantum fluctuation differences, but we wouldn't actually be able to prove anything from them until information traveling at the speed of light catches up.
However, this can be taken in another way. Since you're looking at gravitation, we can compute the effects. Distance is a major player in this equation, so lets pick the closest star, Alpha Centauri. It is 4.3 light years away. that's $4.132cdot 10^16 text m$ away. Its mass is roughly 0.123 solar masses, or $2.446cdot 10^29 textkg$. Throwing them into $a_grav=fracGMr^2$ we get an acceleration of $9.5cdot10^-15fractext mtext s^2$(G is $6.674cdot10−11 fractextm^3kgcdot s^2$, if you want to run those numbers). So while the earth is pulling on us at $9.8fractext mtext s^2$, A. centauri is pulling with a whopping $0.0000000000000095fractext mtext s^2$
Now note the r-squared term. That's why the gravity of Earth is such a big deal and A. centauri, as big as it is, isn't a big deal. The gravitational effects of far away objects is pretty negligible. If there was something that kept emitting light where A. centauri was, we wouldn't even detect it.
In the long run, these small things would matter. If the galaxy vanished, we would stop orbiting the galaxy. Our orbit around the center of the galaxy has a period of about 200 million years, so you'd start to notice the loss of that mass after a million or so years.
The bigger issue would be the worldbuilding problem. Something just broke all of our known laws of physics, and did it in a blink of an eye. What was that thing? How does it work?
And is it still hungry?
These are important questions for the denizens of the last surviving solar system in the universe.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
There would be basically no effect.
First off, even gravitation is governed by the speed of light, so we would not notice for thousands of years (well, we'd notice Alpha Centauri after about 4 years). By the currently understood laws of physics, no information about a remote object can travel faster than the speed of light. We theoretically will see some hilariously small quantum fluctuation differences, but we wouldn't actually be able to prove anything from them until information traveling at the speed of light catches up.
However, this can be taken in another way. Since you're looking at gravitation, we can compute the effects. Distance is a major player in this equation, so lets pick the closest star, Alpha Centauri. It is 4.3 light years away. that's $4.132cdot 10^16 text m$ away. Its mass is roughly 0.123 solar masses, or $2.446cdot 10^29 textkg$. Throwing them into $a_grav=fracGMr^2$ we get an acceleration of $9.5cdot10^-15fractext mtext s^2$(G is $6.674cdot10−11 fractextm^3kgcdot s^2$, if you want to run those numbers). So while the earth is pulling on us at $9.8fractext mtext s^2$, A. centauri is pulling with a whopping $0.0000000000000095fractext mtext s^2$
Now note the r-squared term. That's why the gravity of Earth is such a big deal and A. centauri, as big as it is, isn't a big deal. The gravitational effects of far away objects is pretty negligible. If there was something that kept emitting light where A. centauri was, we wouldn't even detect it.
In the long run, these small things would matter. If the galaxy vanished, we would stop orbiting the galaxy. Our orbit around the center of the galaxy has a period of about 200 million years, so you'd start to notice the loss of that mass after a million or so years.
The bigger issue would be the worldbuilding problem. Something just broke all of our known laws of physics, and did it in a blink of an eye. What was that thing? How does it work?
And is it still hungry?
These are important questions for the denizens of the last surviving solar system in the universe.
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
There would be basically no effect.
First off, even gravitation is governed by the speed of light, so we would not notice for thousands of years (well, we'd notice Alpha Centauri after about 4 years). By the currently understood laws of physics, no information about a remote object can travel faster than the speed of light. We theoretically will see some hilariously small quantum fluctuation differences, but we wouldn't actually be able to prove anything from them until information traveling at the speed of light catches up.
However, this can be taken in another way. Since you're looking at gravitation, we can compute the effects. Distance is a major player in this equation, so lets pick the closest star, Alpha Centauri. It is 4.3 light years away. that's $4.132cdot 10^16 text m$ away. Its mass is roughly 0.123 solar masses, or $2.446cdot 10^29 textkg$. Throwing them into $a_grav=fracGMr^2$ we get an acceleration of $9.5cdot10^-15fractext mtext s^2$(G is $6.674cdot10−11 fractextm^3kgcdot s^2$, if you want to run those numbers). So while the earth is pulling on us at $9.8fractext mtext s^2$, A. centauri is pulling with a whopping $0.0000000000000095fractext mtext s^2$
Now note the r-squared term. That's why the gravity of Earth is such a big deal and A. centauri, as big as it is, isn't a big deal. The gravitational effects of far away objects is pretty negligible. If there was something that kept emitting light where A. centauri was, we wouldn't even detect it.
In the long run, these small things would matter. If the galaxy vanished, we would stop orbiting the galaxy. Our orbit around the center of the galaxy has a period of about 200 million years, so you'd start to notice the loss of that mass after a million or so years.
The bigger issue would be the worldbuilding problem. Something just broke all of our known laws of physics, and did it in a blink of an eye. What was that thing? How does it work?
And is it still hungry?
These are important questions for the denizens of the last surviving solar system in the universe.
$endgroup$
There would be basically no effect.
First off, even gravitation is governed by the speed of light, so we would not notice for thousands of years (well, we'd notice Alpha Centauri after about 4 years). By the currently understood laws of physics, no information about a remote object can travel faster than the speed of light. We theoretically will see some hilariously small quantum fluctuation differences, but we wouldn't actually be able to prove anything from them until information traveling at the speed of light catches up.
However, this can be taken in another way. Since you're looking at gravitation, we can compute the effects. Distance is a major player in this equation, so lets pick the closest star, Alpha Centauri. It is 4.3 light years away. that's $4.132cdot 10^16 text m$ away. Its mass is roughly 0.123 solar masses, or $2.446cdot 10^29 textkg$. Throwing them into $a_grav=fracGMr^2$ we get an acceleration of $9.5cdot10^-15fractext mtext s^2$(G is $6.674cdot10−11 fractextm^3kgcdot s^2$, if you want to run those numbers). So while the earth is pulling on us at $9.8fractext mtext s^2$, A. centauri is pulling with a whopping $0.0000000000000095fractext mtext s^2$
Now note the r-squared term. That's why the gravity of Earth is such a big deal and A. centauri, as big as it is, isn't a big deal. The gravitational effects of far away objects is pretty negligible. If there was something that kept emitting light where A. centauri was, we wouldn't even detect it.
In the long run, these small things would matter. If the galaxy vanished, we would stop orbiting the galaxy. Our orbit around the center of the galaxy has a period of about 200 million years, so you'd start to notice the loss of that mass after a million or so years.
The bigger issue would be the worldbuilding problem. Something just broke all of our known laws of physics, and did it in a blink of an eye. What was that thing? How does it work?
And is it still hungry?
These are important questions for the denizens of the last surviving solar system in the universe.
answered 1 hour ago
Cort AmmonCort Ammon
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$begingroup$
It would take time, but yes life would cease as we would have fallen out of the the fabled "Goldilocks Zone" (Wikipedia link here). That said, like Nuclear Wang said it would take time. The other thing to take into account gravitational mass that happens when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole. So, this would also throw our solar system into a state of disarray and things would change as orbits changed/decayed. This could speed up the process or not --- depending a huge array of variables which go far beyond my understanding (where is Neil Degrasse Tyson when you need him!)
$endgroup$
5
$begingroup$
...when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole I don't believe this is the case. Most stars are, AFAIK, too small to become black holes.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Why would we fall out of the goldilocks zone? And none of the stars would become blackholes. All of the matter that makes them up simple vanishes.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
Although Earth is indeed expected to eventually fall out of Goldilocks zone and become too hot to support life, this has nothing to do with other stars.
$endgroup$
– Alexander
5 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
It would take time, but yes life would cease as we would have fallen out of the the fabled "Goldilocks Zone" (Wikipedia link here). That said, like Nuclear Wang said it would take time. The other thing to take into account gravitational mass that happens when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole. So, this would also throw our solar system into a state of disarray and things would change as orbits changed/decayed. This could speed up the process or not --- depending a huge array of variables which go far beyond my understanding (where is Neil Degrasse Tyson when you need him!)
$endgroup$
5
$begingroup$
...when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole I don't believe this is the case. Most stars are, AFAIK, too small to become black holes.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Why would we fall out of the goldilocks zone? And none of the stars would become blackholes. All of the matter that makes them up simple vanishes.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
Although Earth is indeed expected to eventually fall out of Goldilocks zone and become too hot to support life, this has nothing to do with other stars.
$endgroup$
– Alexander
5 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
It would take time, but yes life would cease as we would have fallen out of the the fabled "Goldilocks Zone" (Wikipedia link here). That said, like Nuclear Wang said it would take time. The other thing to take into account gravitational mass that happens when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole. So, this would also throw our solar system into a state of disarray and things would change as orbits changed/decayed. This could speed up the process or not --- depending a huge array of variables which go far beyond my understanding (where is Neil Degrasse Tyson when you need him!)
$endgroup$
It would take time, but yes life would cease as we would have fallen out of the the fabled "Goldilocks Zone" (Wikipedia link here). That said, like Nuclear Wang said it would take time. The other thing to take into account gravitational mass that happens when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole. So, this would also throw our solar system into a state of disarray and things would change as orbits changed/decayed. This could speed up the process or not --- depending a huge array of variables which go far beyond my understanding (where is Neil Degrasse Tyson when you need him!)
answered 6 hours ago
J CrosbyJ Crosby
1167 bronze badges
1167 bronze badges
5
$begingroup$
...when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole I don't believe this is the case. Most stars are, AFAIK, too small to become black holes.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Why would we fall out of the goldilocks zone? And none of the stars would become blackholes. All of the matter that makes them up simple vanishes.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
Although Earth is indeed expected to eventually fall out of Goldilocks zone and become too hot to support life, this has nothing to do with other stars.
$endgroup$
– Alexander
5 hours ago
add a comment |
5
$begingroup$
...when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole I don't believe this is the case. Most stars are, AFAIK, too small to become black holes.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Why would we fall out of the goldilocks zone? And none of the stars would become blackholes. All of the matter that makes them up simple vanishes.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
2
$begingroup$
Although Earth is indeed expected to eventually fall out of Goldilocks zone and become too hot to support life, this has nothing to do with other stars.
$endgroup$
– Alexander
5 hours ago
5
5
$begingroup$
...when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole I don't believe this is the case. Most stars are, AFAIK, too small to become black holes.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
...when a star dies - generally it becomes a Blackhole I don't believe this is the case. Most stars are, AFAIK, too small to become black holes.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
6 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
Why would we fall out of the goldilocks zone? And none of the stars would become blackholes. All of the matter that makes them up simple vanishes.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
Why would we fall out of the goldilocks zone? And none of the stars would become blackholes. All of the matter that makes them up simple vanishes.
$endgroup$
– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
2
2
$begingroup$
Although Earth is indeed expected to eventually fall out of Goldilocks zone and become too hot to support life, this has nothing to do with other stars.
$endgroup$
– Alexander
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
Although Earth is indeed expected to eventually fall out of Goldilocks zone and become too hot to support life, this has nothing to do with other stars.
$endgroup$
– Alexander
5 hours ago
add a comment |
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$begingroup$
This question is meaningless in the context of the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe (as per FLRW ). For everything to vanish, some of it would essentially have to had never existed at all - we see galaxies that were formed in the first period of star and galaxy formation because of that speed of light issue.
$endgroup$
– StephenG
7 hours ago
$begingroup$
In addition to what StephenG said, even a single star disappearing is probably impossible in the context of general relativity, since GR has local conservation of mass/energy, and its sudden disappearance it would seem to imply an instantaneous change in the curvature of spacetime which I don't think is allowed. Might be better to imagine all the stars being transformed into dark matter or something, so their gravitational effects wouldn't change instantaneously (though in time the dark matter would disperse over a larger region) but they would cease to emit electromagnetic radiation.
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– Hypnosifl
6 hours ago
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@Hypnosifl I am interested in the gravitational effects just .... weirdly disappearing.
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– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
@elemtilas thanks for the edit, that title's much clearer.
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– theonlygusti
5 hours ago
$begingroup$
If you want the gravitational effects to disappear I think you might have to switch from general relativity, where this is probably just impossible (violates the basic equations), to some approximate theory like Newtonian gravity or the weak-field limit of GR (the latter is more accurate since it has gravitational effects travel at the speed of light).
$endgroup$
– Hypnosifl
5 hours ago