Astronomers are watching a delayed broadcast of a spectacular outburst from the unstable, behemoth double-star system Eta Carinae, an event initially seen on Earth nearly 170 years ago, as pictured in this NASA handout photo received by Reuters February 1
Astronomers are watching a delayed broadcast of a spectacular outburst from the unstable, behemoth double-star system Eta Carinae, an event initially seen on Earth nearly 170 years ago, as pictured in this NASA handout photo received by Reuters February 15, 2012. Reuters

Astronomers have been eyeing the Eta Carinae, a huge star weighing 120 times that of the Sun and is dubbed as the "Death Star," for many years. Social media sectors are alarmed with the fact that the flare that would be generated by the collapse of Eta Carinae could end life on Earth. It is said that the flare would be 100 times bigger than the Earth and could produce a radiation enough to kill all the people in the world.

Dr Alan Duffy, an astrophysicist from Swinburne University, said that the star was so bright that it had the ability to tear itself apart by the strength of its own heat. He also said that the scientists had no idea how the star managed to survive the explosion that flung 10 times the mass of the Sun outwards. He added that they did not if the next explosion would be the lost. He also said that there was no danger of the star exploding because the Earth was not close enough to it and that it was not pointing in the direction of the Earth.

The "Death Star" was not close to the Earth and was at a distance of about 7,500 light years away, reported Yahoo News. It mentioned that this was the reason that the humans were safe. It was also reported that the star was eroding itself and the good fuel had been burnt off. It was also generating an intense outward radiation pressure because of which its outer layers were flying away.

The threat of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) blasting the biosphere was the main fear that was associated with the mass-extinction on Earth, but this would be the worst-case scenario. If the GRB took place then the planet would be filled with light that would be brighter than the sun and would tear the ozone layer apart. It would also send the radioactive particles raining down on the Earth. An article by the Scientific American stated that most of the astrophysicists were of the belief that Eta Carinae would not produce a GRB.