What would happen if a nearby star reached the end of its life and exploded as a supernova? At first, it would be bright enough to see during the daytime, bright enough even to read by in the middle of the night. Then the blast wave would hit. Three million years ago, this spectacular event happened. This image shows my simulation of a supernova blast pushing the protective solar wind emanating from the Sun (red dot in the image) nearly to Earth's orbit (blue dashed circle). All the planets and minor bodies further out are directly bathed in supernova plasma and bombarded with the guts of a star in its death throes. I aim to understand how close blasts like this could get to the Earth, and what parts of the solar system were left exposed. What records could remain from such an event? The universe usually leaves us alone to carry on as normal with our lives. But occasionally it can interject itself powerfully, reminding us that we are citizens of not only our cities and states but also the cosmos at large.
