Dangerous Space
This is the text version of the interactive 3D documentary. 한국어
Danger ranking › Nearby stars
IK Pegasi
Nearby stars #2 · The nearest candidate for a Type Ia supernova — but millions of years away
View in 3D- Name
- IK Pegasi
- Type
- Binary star (A-type star + white dwarf)
- Size
- The white dwarf companion is about 1.15 times the Sun’s mass
- Distance
- about 150 light-years from Earth · light takes 154 years
The story in 1 scene
The closest supernova candidate
IK Pegasi, in the constellation Pegasus, is a pair of stars about 150 light-years away. One of them is a white dwarf — a star that has already used up its fuel. Of all the stars that could one day explode as a Type Ia supernova, it is the closest to Earth.
Why?A white dwarf can pull material from its partner star. If it gains enough to pass a mass limit, the whole star explodes. For that to happen, the partner first has to swell up and start handing over material.
What nextThe partner won’t swell up for millions of years, and by then the pair is expected to be farther from Earth. It is already about three times farther than the supernova danger distance (about 50 light-years).
See this scene in 3D →Sources
Impact-threat rankings and probabilities follow NASA/JPL’s Sentry risk table (as of 2026-11-04). The other categories are editorial rankings using the published criteria. Distances to stars can carry large uncertainties.