Posted on 02/18/2005 9:32:27 PM PST by tbird5
Astronomers say they have been stunned by the amount of energy released in a star explosion on the far side of our galaxy, 50,000 light-years away.
The flash of radiation on 27 December was so powerful that it bounced off the Moon and lit up the Earth's atmosphere.
The blast occurred on the surface of an exotic kind of star - a super-magnetic neutron star called SGR 1806-20.
If the explosion had been within just 10 light-years, Earth could have suffered a mass extinction, it is said.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime event Dr Rob Fender, Southampton University "We figure that it's probably the biggest explosion observed by humans within our galaxy since Johannes Kepler saw his supernova in 1604," Dr Rob Fender, of Southampton University, UK, told the BBC News website.
One calculation has the giant flare on SGR 1806-20 unleashing about 10,000 trillion trillion trillion watts.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. We have observed an object only 20km across, on the other side of our galaxy, releasing more energy in a 10th of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years," said Dr Fender.
Keanu Reeves voice: "Whoa."
Famous last words.
Where's the "kaboom"?
Oh, there it is.
Maybe the Gods be getting angry...practicing
---If the explosion had been within just 10 light-years, Earth could have suffered a mass extinction, it is said.---
And what has Bush done to protect us from this? And how did the intelligence community fail to see it coming?
Alarmist B.S. There is a big difference between 50,000 light years and 10 light years.
If my aunt had testicles she would be my uncle.
Agreed....no star exploding that far away could have created such a huge energy disturbance 50,000 LY away.
And I couldn't find my camera!
spacenami
It's Bush's fault.
Does this mean we're looking at some serious trouble in a few hundred million years?
Plus, there aren't many stars within 10 light years of us. Kind of like saying "If the Stockholm had hit my house instead of the Andrea Doria, there would have been nothing left of my house."
And as the massive shockwave hit the earth, wiping all of mankind from its surface, several million dweebs thought, as one: "The world can't end! I haven't seen Revenge of the Sith yet!!!!"
There could possibly be things out there that we are unable to detect at this point, which could someday threaten all life on earth, and make the Kyoto agreement look like a massive circle jerk..
For some reason, the thought "By fire next time" sorta popped into my head.
Of course. Plus it appears that the Centauri system is within 5 lys, so we gotta keep our eyes peeled in that direction too.
There is nothing there that could become a neutron star and release that kind of energy.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Scientists didn't know this one was coming, how can they state that it is a once-in-a-lifetime event? There could be another one tomorrow.
Don't worry. I'm sure Luke wasn't on that thing when it blew.
Therefore if this star is 50,000 LY away, this explosion occured 200,000 years ago. These guys talk like it "happened" December 27. This all seems surrealistic to me.
I shouldn't be making fun of them, I saw some pics of Sith. Some very 9-11 imagery in this one.
Cosmic changes are happening constantly (venus transit). Maybe the real threat is the fear-inducing media (by scalar waves)? Check it out.
Stochastics. Plain and simple.
WOW! And I kept looking around to see who took my picture. I feel so stupid.
"This one goes to eleven." -- Dr. Rob Fender
If my aunt had wheels she'd be a taxi.
I wish I'd seen this thing explode.
Long distances are fun aren't they. Just think, in 200,000 years they will be able to see some of our finest tv programing... Fear Factor.
Have you heard about this before?
I'm starting to rethink my position on the size of the universe. I always thought it was way too big to actually get around in. That's true, but apparently there are some benefits to having things spread out a bit.
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