Quote:
Originally Posted by Vaevictis Asmadi
What if it was a very nearby supernova, one close enough to sweep earth with plasma waves from the supernova remnant?
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You'd still be looking at one hemisphere taking the brunt of the damage, unless the supernova was on a line roughly perpendicular to the Earth's axis.
Consider Beta Hydri. I don't know whether it's a supernova candidate, but Beta Hydri is the closest near-end-of-life star to Earth, slightly over 20ly away. It's close enough to damage the Solar System if it goes nova, although we don't expect it to go nova any time soon - something would have to happen to it. (But in an alternate universe, something
could happen to it.) Trouble is, it's almost due south of the South Pole ... so you've got the "one hemisphere only" issue to deal with.