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The iconic scene in "Superman IV: The quest for peace" shows the eponymous character throwing a net filled with nuclear missles into the Sun.

If that were to happen in real life, what would happen as the nuclear weapons approached and fell into the star?

Will they explode? If yes and assuming it is not on the other side of the star, could we see it (with naked eye? with what telescope / sensor?)

Would it cause any effect on the Sun? Temporary? Long-lasting?

Would it cause any effect on some other Solar System body?

P.S.: I don't how how many nukes were there. You can assume a very large quantity comparable to a large portion of the Earth's arsenal.

abhijit975
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Mindwin Remember Monica
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  • Probably more suited to Worldbuilding SE than Physics SE. – StephenG - Help Ukraine Sep 25 '19 at 14:46
  • @stephenG Which stack to post is relevant to the kind of specialist writes the answer. Worldbuilding has less rigor than physics and I want a phisicist's answer, not some Michael Bay worst-case scenario. Restraining the public there would prove impossible. – Mindwin Remember Monica Sep 25 '19 at 14:53
  • @stephenG think about a legal problem that arose while traveling. You can post to law.se or to travel.se. Do you want the point of view from law scholars or seasoned travelers? These points of shadowing are common. – Mindwin Remember Monica Sep 25 '19 at 14:54
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    Worldbuilding has less rigor than physics Your question has, from a physics point of view, no "rigor" either. Also note the homework-type question rule which requires you to show some effort to research an answer yourself. Physics SE requires rigor from the question poster as well as those answering. – StephenG - Help Ukraine Sep 25 '19 at 15:09
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    Nukes are very hard to set off, this is on purpose. So they would vaporise and nothing noticeable would happen. – zeta-band Sep 25 '19 at 15:17
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    @zeta-band +1, but before that the supporting structures would soften, distort and melt. The detonation mechanism would become disabled, and the core would deform to an unusable shape. Then melt, then vaporize. – garyp Sep 25 '19 at 16:22
  • @StephenG Please point out what is lacking. – Mindwin Remember Monica Sep 25 '19 at 16:50
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    The total power emitted by the sun is roughly 4E26W. In one second the sun radiates the equivalent of 95,602 Tt of TNT (terra-tons). All of Earth's nukes are a drop in a really large bucket... – Jon Custer Sep 25 '19 at 17:05
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    When we talk about doing making a proper attempt to work things out yourself (under the homework-type question rule), it's things like Jon Custer's comment. It's reasonable (on Physics SE) to expect a poster to do enough basic background reading to work that sort of thing out themselves. – StephenG - Help Ukraine Sep 25 '19 at 22:58
  • Related: https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/299841/59023 and as JonCuster noted, the total energy of the entire world nuclear arsenal is much less than a really small solar flare. – honeste_vivere Sep 26 '19 at 13:36
  • It is not an "iconic scene." It was a stupid, thoughtless s ene. If he could get all those nuclear weapons and get them together, and – Olive Stemforn Aug 06 '21 at 04:21

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If nuclear missiles were to approach to sun, they would probably be vaporized on their journey due to the intense heat radiated by the sun.

However let us assume that they reached the surface and detonated. Their explosion would most likely be insignificant and would be nowhere close to affecting the sun. This wouldnt be visible from earth due to the vastness of the sun and would likely be described as a minor solar flare by those watching through telescopes.

Sam
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