From: "Neil Faulkner" N.Faulkner@tesco.net Subject: Re: [B7L] Orbit, Vila and Avon
Had a background idea for a story - would supernovae become tourist events? They are, after all, visible over considerable distances, hundreds if not thousands of light years. The one that created the Crab Nebula - 5000 ly away - was visible from Earth for three months. The event itself could be under continuous observation, with a series of observation platforms progressively further away from the star in question. 400 ly from Earth, the 1604 supernova has yet to become visible.
It sounds like something that was mentioned in the first "Red Dwarf" novel - the ship on which Kryten was found was a "Star Destroyer" - it travelled through space triggering supernovae; the stars were precisely selected so that the explosions would be simultaneously visible from Earth and spell out the most expensive advertising slogan ever.
Wildean