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Fast-Moving Neutron Star From Hubble
CEHT writes: "Recently, the Hubble discovered a fast moving neutron star which is 10 trillion times denser than steel, 100 times faster than a supersonic jet. Here is the article from CNN.com." If we had a General Products hull, we could send a probe to investigate.
Assuming "faster than a supersonic jet" is 1500 km/h, this works out to .00014c. I suppose this is pretty fast for natural phenomena, but I think we have already attained over a third of this ourselves.
Of course, I wouldn't use a General Products hull at all. I would use that radiation-shielded American-made craft from the future in Michael Chrichton's "Sphere".
Hell, that thing survived a trip bouncing off a black hole, went through time, sat at the bottom of the ocean for three-hundred years AND managed to pick up a gold alien ball that got the better of Samuel Jackson.
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
So the speed of RX J1856.5-3754 (about 85-100 km/s) is more in the lower range. What make this star interesting is not its velocity, but the fact that it is rather unique, because it does not show any activity (e.g. pulsations), unlike most other known neutron stars.
Also, as there is no gaseous shell from the supernova left, thus it must be quite old (at least 100000 yrs), but nevertheless the neutron star is still rather hot (as evidenced by its X-ray emission). This is puzzling because neutron stars have no internal energy source (unlike "normal" stars that are powered by thermonuclear reactions), and therefore should cool down continuously from the moment of birth.
There is an ESO Press Release about this object which offers much more info than the CNN article, yet is still written for non-scientists.
It's currently 200 light years away. The closest this thing will get is 170 light years. And that's in 300,000 years. In summary, no.
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Americans are bred for stupidity.
The General Products Corporation (and their mainstay product line of spaceship hulls) was the mouthpiece of the cowardly race called the "Puppeteers" in the book Ringworld (so named because of their "heads", two mouth/eye stalks resembling human arm-puppets as well as their devious and manipulative ways. They are also tripedal which isn't nearly as silly as it sounds here).
The GP Hulls are constructed of one solid piece of some fantastic transparent and indestructable material. The inside surface is coated with a 'stasis field' conducting film making the ship indestructable and extremely safe. If a threat were detected, such as immenent collision or attack, the satsis field would flip on and further interaction with the space-time continuum would be cut off for anything within the field. The computer would set to deactivate the field in random intervals and poll for conditions. if it was safe (say the sun you crashed into finally blew up and cast you free), then you were back in real time and could continue your voyage.
As a side note, even with all these amazing strentghs, the puppeteers, as a race, were far to paranoid to actually use a spaceship. that would be madness!
:)Fudboy
:)Fudboy
I guess I'm only a Fudboy, looking for that real Transmeta
Stupid star...
Too dense to take its time and look around a little.
100 times faster than a supersonic jet is....
C'mon. Nothing.
Sound travels at slower than twice the speed of an ordinary 747 aircraft. 200 times the speed of a 747 aircraft (about 200,000m/s) is not a very big deal on the cosmic scale...
I think even our solar system is moving along that speed circling the centre of the Milkyway. Just my guess tho.