Right #now<\/a> Chandra is studying supernova remnant SNR 0509. The Type 1a supernova that resulted in this #space<\/a> bubble occurred nearly 400 years ago for Earth viewers. The object is about 23 light years across and is expanding at more than 5,000 kilometers per second! pic.twitter.com\/yhMa5BqWko<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Chandra Observatory (@chandraxray) May 15, 2020<\/a> <\/p>\n Two White Dwarfs on a Collision Course<\/p>\n Now, for the first time, scientists from the University of Warwick in the UK have observed one of these ticking timebombs. Writing in Nature Astronomy, they describe a pair of white dwarfs orbiting each other inside the Milky Way, just 150 light-years from Earth. When they finally collide, the resulting explosion will blaze ten times brighter than the Moon.<\/p>\n At the moment, the pair \u2014 together weighing about 1.56 times the mass of the Sun \u2014 circle each other once every 14 hours. They\u2019re already separated by only one-sixtieth of the Earth\u2013Sun distance. Over time, they\u2019ll spiral inward faster and faster until their orbit<\/a> takes just 30 to 40 seconds \u2014 a dizzying cosmic dance before total destruction.<\/p>\n A Future Supernova (But Nothing to Worry About)<\/p>\n The good news? This won\u2019t happen for another billion centuries or so \u2014 roughly 23 billion years. When it does, the sequence will unfold in four rapid-fire stages. First, the surface of the white dwarf that\u2019s been gaining mass will erupt. That initial blast will ignite its core.<\/p>\n The expelled matter will then smash into its companion, triggering two more explosions \u2014 first the surface, then the core of the second star. All of it will be over in just seconds. \u201cIt\u2019s an incredibly important find,\u201d said Ingrid Pelisoli, a professor at the University of Warwick. \u201cSpotting such a system so close to home suggests they\u2019re more common than we thought. Otherwise, we\u2019d have had to search much deeper into our galaxy to find one.\u201d<\/p>\n When the event finally happens, it will wipe out the system completely. The released energy will be about a trillion times greater than the most powerful nuclear bomb ever built. In our sky, it would shine as an object 200,000 times brighter than Jupiter<\/a> \u2014 though in 23 billion years, who knows what the night sky will even look like?<\/p>\n Nathalie Mayer<\/p>\n Journalist<\/p>\n Born in Lorraine on a freezing winter night, storytelling has always inspired me, first through my grandmother’s tales and later Stephen King’s imagination. A physicist turned science communicator, I’ve collaborated with institutions like CEA, Total, Engie, and Futura. Today, I focus on unraveling Earth’s complex environmental and energy challenges, blending science with storytelling to illuminate solutions.<\/p>\n \t\t![\"mayer-nathalie\"](\"https:\/\/www.futura-sciences.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/mayer-nathalie.avif\")
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