On the other hand, we may well detect the 3 solar masses radiated away as energy. That decreases as an inverse square law, so as one solar mass is about 10^30kg, and 1kg gives off about 10^17 J, we&#x27;re talking about an explosion releasing something around 10^47 J. For comparison, a 1 kiloton nuclear bomb gives off about 10^15 J.<p>So, inverse square that explosion... 1 light year is about 10^16m, so we square that and get 10^32m, so we&#x27;re now talking about ... 10^15 J.<p>So, unless my maths is all off (which is possible), if this happened about a light year away, whoever&#x27;s on the side facing towards the blast wouldn&#x27;t get to observe very much because they&#x27;d feel as if a 1kt nuke just went off above their head. Not a great way to start the day.<p>Chances are it would wipe out life on Earth too, through the ensuing side-effects like lighting the atmosphere on fire, sterilising half the planet, significantly heating up the oceans, possibly even stripping part of the atmosphere away, etc.<p>For a great novel based around a strikingly similar premise to what was just observed (and the main reason I even bothered to calculate this), <i>Diaspora</i> by Greg Egan is a fantastic book.