Skip to comments.
Hope for Earth: Planet Survives Star's Death Throes
space.com ^
| 09/12/07
| Ker Than
Posted on 09/12/2007 7:05:46 PM PDT by KevinDavis
click here to read article
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21 next last
To: ShasheMac; brityank; Forest Keeper; swatbuznik; Potts Mtn. Pappy; Kevmo; wastedyears; ...
2
posted on
09/12/2007 7:06:23 PM PDT
by
KevinDavis
(Mitt Romney 08)
To: KevinDavis
Astronomers have spotted a planet that has survived the massive ballooning of its parent star, providing the first optimistic evidence for the long-term survival of Earth.
It doesn't matter. We're all dying from human induced global warming anyway. ;O)
3
posted on
09/12/2007 7:15:26 PM PDT
by
Man50D
(Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it!)
To: KevinDavis
And even a definitive answer would do what for us?
4
posted on
09/12/2007 7:19:44 PM PDT
by
SampleMan
(Islamic tolerance is practiced by killing you last.)
To: KevinDavis
Astronomers have spotted a planet that has survived the massive ballooning of its parent star, providing the first optimistic evidence for the long-term survival of Earth. Oh, for cryin' out loud, the sun is projected to go red giant in what, 4 billion years? How friggin' dead am I gonna be by then? What an utterly STOOPID premise for an article.
5
posted on
09/12/2007 7:22:09 PM PDT
by
dirtboy
(Chertoff needs to move out of DC, not move to Justice.)
To: KevinDavis
That is indeed great news. Our planet might survive a fireball that would turn it into a cinder, but survive. I’m not sure I want to wait around for it.
6
posted on
09/12/2007 7:23:12 PM PDT
by
Lokibob
(Some people are like slinkys. Useless, but if you throw them down the stairs, you smile.)
To: dirtboy
On the other hand this is a big relief to the billions of Hindus and Buddhists who expect to still be around at the time!
7
posted on
09/12/2007 7:23:59 PM PDT
by
muawiyah
To: KevinDavis
Don’t you just love scientists! My driving of an SUV will destroy the planet, but our star swelling 100 times bigger will not.
And they wonder why they’ve been laughed at and had spitballs thrown at them throughout their lives... ;-)
8
posted on
09/12/2007 8:57:12 PM PDT
by
mwilli20
To: KevinDavis
Nonsense. The Sun will gradually warm up as it uses up the hydrogen at its core, and the Earth's oceans will boil away and evaporate, long, long, long before the Sun ever becomes a nova.
Because of this, life on Earth probably only has another billion years or so, tops.
It's true that a molten rock may remain where the Earth once was immediately after the Sun goes through its red giant phase, but that rock will be totally unsuitable for any conceivable kind of life.
Or so I've heard.
To: KevinDavis
To: KevinDavis
Even if humans were to make it to that point in time, eventually there will be an end. The Big Rip, where the universe will rip apart everything even tiny atoms.
11
posted on
09/13/2007 3:47:50 AM PDT
by
dragonblustar
(Move On should move on. Move on back to Russia.)
To: LibWhacker
Does the sun have enough mass to go nova?
12
posted on
09/13/2007 6:16:20 AM PDT
by
wastedyears
(George Orwell was a clairvoyant.)
To: wastedyears
Does the sun have enough mass to go nova?
No.
13
posted on
09/13/2007 7:18:17 AM PDT
by
Filo
(Darwin was right!)
To: wastedyears; Filo
Absolutely it does. It doesn’t have enough to go supernova though.
To: KevinDavis
Scientists have determined that the sun will burn out in roughly 150 million years. This means that the Kansas DOT will have to finish construction on I-35 in the dark...
Mark
15
posted on
09/13/2007 10:21:35 AM PDT
by
MarkL
(Listen, Strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government)
To: wastedyears; Filo
Hmmm... Let me modify that claim a bit. I've been out reading about novas on the web.
When I took introductory astronomy back in the middle ages, they taught us that the Sun would "go nova" someday; i.e., blow off its outer layers and become a red giant. The whole process was referred to as "going nova." To an outside observer it will look like a new star (nova stella) has appeared in the sky.
But now most references on the web say a nova is white dwarf feeding on its red giant companion star. The gas flowing onto the surface of the white dwarf is hot enough that you actually get a massive nuclear explosion, or explosions, on the dwarf's surface. It's so bright it appears in the sky as a new star, but fades quickly until the next batch of gas explodes (Wow, this is something they never taught us).
Obviously, this will not happen to the sun because it doesn't have a companion, much less a white dwarf companion.
Thanks for the question (and the answer, Filo). You prompted me to go out and learn something new today! :-)
To: KevinDavis
"It got a little hot on the planet where I've been,
but I escaped with only a third degree burns.".
17
posted on
09/13/2007 1:47:41 PM PDT
by
OESY
To: KevinDavis; annie laurie; garbageseeker; Knitting A Conundrum; Viking2002; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
18
posted on
09/14/2007 7:51:51 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Wednesday, September 12, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: 75thOVI; AFPhys; Alice in Wonderland; AndrewC; aristotleman; Avoiding_Sulla; BenLurkin; Berosus; ...
19
posted on
09/14/2007 7:52:35 AM PDT
by
SunkenCiv
(Profile updated Wednesday, September 12, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
To: MarkL; All
Yes, but will there be time to finish the Big Dig in Boston?
Whether the earth ends in 150 million years, 1 billion, or 4 billion it won’t matter to us as the average life span of a species is only about 5 million years.
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-20, 21 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson