steve@sri-unix (08/01/82)
I hope all you folks out there understand that when I argue the orthodox point of view, that I don't necessarily believe it. Re: the effects of a SuperNova on nearby stars, over the short run (say a million years or less) the gravitational attraction of the Supernova would not be measurable on nearby stars since the center of gravity of the Supernova would not change. Only when the closest mass from the Supernova was (say) a quarter of the distance of the farthest mass would the inverse-square aspect of the law of Gravitation make a difference. However, you have a problem with all the mass in between the nearest and farthest. I don't think you could come up with any observations that were meaningful - even if it weren't the case that the movement of the star in question would be measured in inches rather than parsecs. So it goes...