Posted on 02/19/2005 7:01:28 AM PST by OEM39
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.
more http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4278005.stm
INTERSTELLAR DUST TSUNAMI!!! GET AWAY FROM THE PLANETS!!!
So, is this saying that back when the event DID happen, we DID suffer a mass extinction?
20 kilometers across?
Someone set us up the bomb.
Clearly Bush's fault!
"If the explosion had been within just 10 light-years, Earth could have suffered a mass extinction, it is said."
I am curious about what the effects would be that would cause extinction.
A lot of dangerous things out there. Sure glad there’s a lot of room.
We're all gonna die!!!
So, WHO said this, and what does he/she know?
And, of course--this is all President Bush's fault because we didn't sign the Kyoto accords/sarcasm
This has been going around the news sources since yesterday...this is the fourth I think, all sourced from different news services (space.com and a couple of others) to carry this story.
Still, for those of us who like astronomical stuff, it is interesting...
"If the explosion had been within just 10 light-years, Earth could have suffered a mass extinction, it is said."
"There will come a day when Hillery! will speak the truth
and monkeys will fly out of her butt, it is said."
Magnitude 2819829930.5 - Star SGR 1806-20. 2005 February 19 00:04:44 UTC Preliminary Starquake Report Federation Geological Survey, Interstellar Starquake Information Center Galactic Data Center for Cosmology, Denver A strong starquake occurred at 00:04:44 (UTC) on Saturday, February 19, 2005. The magnitude 2819829930.5 event has been located in Star SGR 1806-20. (This event has been reviewed by a Cosmologist.) INTERSTELLAR DUST TSUNAMI ALERT -- There is a high probability of a dangerous Interstellar Dust Tsunami. Inhabitants of all populated worlds are advised to board deep-space craft until tsunami danger has passed. Magnitude 2819829930.5 Date-Time Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 00:04:44 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 8:04:44 AM = local time at epicenter Time of Starquake in other Time Zones Location 5.559°S, 122.058°E Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program Distances Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 7.9 km (4.9 miles); depth fixed by location program Parameters Nst=172, Nph=172, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.05 sec, Gp= 36°, M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=8 Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D) Event ID usurbm
Yup. Well. What can you say? It's the flip side of being alive.
Expect to hear from my attorneys.
She seems to be the most popular candidate so far....
You do understand that light-year is a measure of distance?
The effects of the event just reached the earth on December 27 of last year. Nothing from the event reached the earth until that date.
The hemisphere facing the explosion would be cleared of life by a massive dose of gamma rays. The other side would suffer from high amounts of atmospheric ionization byproducts: oxides of nitrogen (+water=nitric acid), ozone, etc.
One side gamma sterized and etched clean, the other side, corroded...
Bill Clinton to chair StarQuake Disaster Relief Efforts.
In habitants of Cg 3541 say Americans not sending enough
Copenhagen while disrespecting their religion.
Koffee Anon, denies corruption in Oil for Copenhagen scandal.
"Women and Children most at risk!"
Can't they just say 1039 watts? That way we're out of elementary school and into high school! Huzzah, everyone!
"You do understand that light-year is a measure of distance?"
Probably not. Our public schools are not doing such a great job with such things.
Eleventeen skadillion watts.
I thought it was a measure of power.
The power that it takes to keep a light lit for a year.
Have your people call my people and they'll do lunch.
Michael Moore tripped and fell again?
I was reading the thread before I replied but thats what caught my eye. I never knew you could pile trillions up like that.
Oh sure you can! In fact 10,000 trillion trillion trillion is equal to 10 million bajillion! :0)
Indicating it isn't the biggest explosion observed by humans outside our galaxy?
I must have missed the thread about that, or maybe it hasn't arrived yet.
It must be the .5 that created the advisory
The magnitude 2819829930.5 event
It must be the .5 that created the advisory
Yes, that .5 means it is 3.42 times stronger than the
Kepler event at 2819829930.1
Yes, instead of teaching about light-years and exponents, the schools are teaching diversity, political correctness, and commitment to groupthink. This is what happens when you let Left-wing morons take over the educational system.
No. I use Deweye, Killim, and Getawaywithit.
This is old news. It happened 50,000 years ago. Why are we just now hearing about it. NASA has been covering up.
Click the Pic J
"So, is this saying that back when the event DID happen, we DID suffer a mass extinction?"
Can't wait to see what responses you get to this question. Something did happen to those 'dinos'.
"So, is this saying that back when the event DID happen, we DID suffer a mass extinction?"
No
Wow, that'll warm your globe.
Somebody hand me a light bulb, will ya? This one just went out.
I'm not very sharp on this stuff. But, I think I'm getting the idea of time equals distance in space and had it not been so longago, it would have been closer. It confuses me to be examining what today seems to have just happened 50,000 years ago because we are just now seeing it, but the subsequent phenomenon is long gone...whew!
I use Chase, Ketchum and Stone.
Good point. I heard a MSM reporter the other day saying some event happened over 1,000 light years ago.
"Something this intense would create an optical flash by scattering electrons in the upper atmosphere and creating something like a super-aurora," Woosley said. It's an idea he's working on but has not yet published.
"The flash of heat and light might flash-burn anything not in the shade," he said. "Heating the atmosphere would cause big winds. The air would be much hotter for weeks, as hot as an oven depending on the distance. This would affect the other side of the Earth eventually."
* * *
The real threat from such events, Dar said, is not even the "normal" gamma rays that researchers are only beginning to understand. Instead, higher energy gamma rays and cosmic rays, thought to be created by the same events but not currently measurable, are the true death rays of the cosmos.
When these bursts of energy interact with our atmosphere, Dar said they would produce a lethal dose of byproducts -- particles called muons.
"Most of the species on Earth -- on the ground, underground and in the oceans, seas and lakes down to tens of yards (meters) -- will be extinct directly by these penetrating muons," Dar said.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/gammaray_bursts_010522-1.html
The Earth's atmosphere would soak up most of the gamma rays, Melott says, but their energy would rip apart nitrogen and oxygen molecules, creating a witch's brew of nitrogen oxides, especially the toxic brown gas nitrogen dioxide that colours photochemical smog (see graphic).
Melott estimates that a burst would produce enough of the gas to darken the sky, blotting out half the visible sunlight reaching the Earth. Nitrogen dioxide would also destroy the ozone layer, exposing surface life to a dangerous overdose of ultraviolet radiation from the sun for a year or more until the ozone recovered.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn4198
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