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Black Holes No More -- Introducing the Gravastar

Mark Eymer observes: "From the Space.com article: 'Emil Mottola of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Pawel Mazur of the University of South Carolina suggest that instead of a star collapsing into a pinpoint of space with virtually infinite gravity, its matter is transformed into a spherical void surrounded by "an extremely durable form of matter never before experienced on Earth."' While these objects may abound in the universe, they also say that our entire universe may reside within a giant gravastar." This new theory attempts to fill holes in the currently accepted concept of the "black hole".

51 of 670 comments (clear)

  1. ah.... by holzp · · Score: 5, Funny

    the /dev/null of the universe!

    1. Re:ah.... by Galaga88 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Even better, they say the entire universe may be inside one huge gravastar.

      Which would mean the universe is already *in* /dev/null.

    2. Re:ah.... by Penguinshit · · Score: 4, Funny



      Actually I believe we're in /tmp, awaiting the next reboot...

    3. Re:ah.... by Boing · · Score: 5, Funny
      In the spirit of operating system universe metaphors:

      In the beginning, God created the universe, and saw that it was good. And God created Man, and Man developed Windows 3.1. Angered, God sent a UDP packet flood filled with His wrath to destroy the sins of man.

      Time went on, and once again mankind became wicked and corrupt. Arrogantly, a tower was built of such size and breadth that it was said that it would reach the Gates of heaven, and it was named the tower of Win32. God punished the wickedness of man by releasing a plague of worms o'er the land, and caused the tribes of men to be unable to interoperate. The tribe of Noob called their language Me98. The tribe of Sadmin called their language Entie2000, or Ekspee in certain regions.

      And time went on in that manner for some time. But yet again, mankind became frought with sin, and God sent a savior, whom he named Linus. But the descendents of the tribe of Redmond had Linus berated under the rule of Pontius PHB.

      And God spake, "fsck this", and made Linux the True System of the Universe. And he didst pipe all sinners into /dev/null, and he didst give those of kind spirit very high "nice" priorities.

      We must look to the day when all zombie processes will rise from their slumber, and the monitors will go black, and the high-bandwidth pipes will run red as blood, and all directories in /home will be judged as fit, or...

      DELETED!

    4. Re:ah.... by mefus · · Score: 2, Funny
      Even better, they say the entire universe may be inside one huge gravastar.


      Which would mean the universe is already *in* /dev/null.


      Hmm, I wonder if a case-mod using a klein-bottle would work.

      --
      mefus
      In Open Society, GPL Software frees YOU!
    5. Re:ah.... by AndroidCat · · Score: 3, Funny
      It's possible that we're stuck in a pipe between /dev/rand and /dev/null.

      Does this mean that Darl is claiming rights over the universe? (No surprise there.)

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    6. Re:ah.... by aled · · Score: 3, Funny

      That's how I do my backups. /dev/null is surprisingly fast to backup and use /dev/rand to restore. Plus I never have to change tapes or even compress the backups...

      --

      "I think this line is mostly filler"
    7. Re:ah.... by hoggoth · · Score: 5, Funny

      > That's how I do my backups. /dev/null is surprisingly fast to backup and use /dev/rand to restore. Plus I never have to change tapes or even compress the backups...

      I was wondering what is this /dev/rand you were speaking about, so I took a look (cat /dev/rand) and was surprised to find the complete works of Shakespeare stored in a device on my system. Linux never ceases to amaze me.
      However, when I tried to view it again all I got was gibberish. Please tell me how to view the complete works of Shakespeare through /dev/rand again.

      --
      - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
    8. Re:ah.... by js7a · · Score: 3, Funny
      This may also help explain how the Wormhole theories work between Black Holes and White Holes....

      This thread might also explain the popularity of mind-altering drugs among amature theoretical physicists.

    9. Re:ah.... by VanillaCoke420 · · Score: 3, Funny

      We wouldn't notice a reboot anyway, since Jesus saves! Hah!

    10. Re:ah.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      I'm sorry sir. Each distro of Linux only ships with one copy of Shakespeare. You'll have to reboot and re-install.

      If you had a Mac, you could download it from iMonkeys.

    11. Re:ah.... by Zzootnik · · Score: 2, Funny

      I Suppose we could try to Slashdot it to test the theory...

      --
      Sig currently under construction. Mind the gap....
    12. Re:ah.... by Dr.+Photo · · Score: 2, Funny

      The /dev/null that can be comprehended is not the eternal /dev/null.

    13. Re:ah.... by Wolfrider · · Score: 3, Funny

      --You prolly need to ' apt-get install typewriting-monkeys/stable '. Unstable may be experiencing randomness.
      :b

      --
      .
      == WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
    14. Re:ah.... by Wolfrider · · Score: 2, Funny

      --Not only does Jesus save, he makes nightly offsite backups and only takes half damage! I tell you d00d, Jesus is root!

      --
      .
      == WolfriderV6 == I'm willing to admit that *I just might* be wrong... Are you??
    15. Re:ah.... by kjd · · Score: 2, Funny

      In the beginning, God created the universe, and saw that it was good. And God created Man, and Man developed Windows 3.1. Angered, God sent a UDP packet flood filled with His wrath to destroy the sins of man.

      Man, lacking a TCP/IP stack in his creation, missed out on this experience entirely. God, receiving no response from his fierce, packety wrath, believed he had won, then abandoned the Earth and spent the rest of eternity darning socks.

    16. Re:ah.... by Penguinshit · · Score: 2, Funny



      ...but Gretzky grabs the rebound...

      He shoots...

      He scores!!!!!

  2. Durable Material by ElDuque · · Score: 3, Funny


    But can they make a new non-stick pan surface out of it?

    1. Re:Durable Material by viking099 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Or, it could be truck!

  3. dig a hole, fill a hole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    : This new theory attempts to fill holes in the currently accepted concept of the "black hole".

    Is that the first step of filling up the black holes themselves?

  4. All well and good but by ShieldWolf · · Score: 3, Funny

    Will it chase your ship around yelling out I hunger ? :P

    --
    just = (My)Opinion.toCents();
  5. it's true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    after all, all of the bug reports submitted to Microsoft have to be stored somewhere

  6. Come on guys! by phunhippy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Its only noon... now I have a headache :(

  7. I can't help myself by revery · · Score: 3, Funny

    This new theory attempts to fill holes in the currently accepted concept of the "black hole".

    Ha Ha Ha! Your puny theory will never escape from the irresistible gravitic pull of this horrible pun...

    --

    Was it the sheep climbing onto the altar, or the cattle lowing to be slain,
    or the Son of God hanging dead and bloodied on a cross that told me this was a world condemned, but loved and bought with blood.

  8. Warning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Be carefull when clicking on those "picture of a black hole" links ;)

  9. Stoner philosophy by worst_name_ever · · Score: 3, Funny
    This sounds exactly like the sort of thing I used to hear when I was living in the dorm back in school:

    "Dude... what if, like... our whole universe... is just one tiny atom... in the toenail of some giant dude?"

    "Woah, dude."

    --

    In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
    1. Re:Stoner philosophy by Scrameustache · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Dude... what if, like... our whole universe... is just one tiny atom... in the toenail of some giant dude?"

      "Woah, dude."


      Man, you should write scripts for the Matrix!

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

  10. Reminds me of Animal House by lucabrasi999 · · Score: 4, Funny
    they also say that our entire universe may reside within a giant gravastar.

    "So what you are saying is that an atom inside our fingernail..."

    "That atom could contain a teeny, tiny universe."

    "Woah!.................Can you sell me some pot?"

  11. Misplacing things... by TWX · · Score: 2, Funny

    So does this explain where the SCO evidence went?

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  12. Re:It's turtles all the way down! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Title of the post comes from one of Feinman's books. God you must be such a geek to have read those. :-)

    Feinman talks with an old lady who won't listen to anything he says, she is convinced that the earth really rests on the back of a giant turtle. When he asks what that rests on, she replies something like "Buddy, it's turtles all the way down."

    -Tyler
    tjw19@columbia.edu

  13. Oh great! by qazamotto · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now Disney is going to have to refilm "The Black Hole"! For some reason I think that "The Spherical Void" just will not be as much of a hit with the little ones.

  14. Re:where is the peer review? by mekkab · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just my 2 dollars.

    Inflations a bitch, ain't it?

    --
    In the future, I would want to not be isolated from my friends in the Space Station.
  15. Seven colors to choose from by djupedal · · Score: 4, Funny

    its matter is transformed into a spherical void surrounded by "an extremely durable form of matter never before experienced on Earth."

    Isle 3, womens's underwear. 5 for $2.00 - durable, breathable, washable, wearable.

    1. Re:Seven colors to choose from by djupedal · · Score: 2, Funny

      Golfer #2 to golfer #1... "How long you been wearing those???"

      Golfer #1..."Ever since my wife found them in the glove box of my Mercedes..."

  16. Re:So the real question is.... by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 2, Funny

    a black hole

    --
    Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  17. ob. futurama quote. by herrd0kt0r · · Score: 3, Funny

    "...its matter is transformed into a spherical void surrounded by 'an extremely durable form of matter never before experienced on Earth...'"

    one pound of which weighs over TEN THOUSAND pounds!

  18. Re:So the real question is.... by kin_korn_karn · · Score: 2, Funny

    You can't trick me, it's turtles all the way down.

  19. Re:It's turtles all the way down! by Odin's+Raven · · Score: 5, Funny
    "While these objects may abound in the universe, they also say that our entire universe may reside within a giant gravastar." That statement makes no sense - its saying that everything that exists or can exist, exists inside something else. Where does THAT exist?

    The last thing that gets sucked into the gravastar is the gravastar itself, which results in the formation of what scientists call a kleinstar, a four-dimensional construct where the inside is the outside (and vice versa). This neatly avoids any issues arising from the concept of having the universe contained within something that is itself within the universe, by moving the whole discussion into the realm of mathematical topology -- which nobody understands, but which we're all too embarassed to admit.

    Remember to stock up on Klein bottles now, so you'll have something to drink out of once the kleinstar forms. ;-)

    --
    A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
  20. Re:Infinite Recursion by digitalsushi · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can convince myself that I am capable of imagining time going on forever (i probably cannot) but I cannot convince myself that time has already occured for an infinite amount of time.

    When I try to think of time having already existed forever, then, I start to think about how some random configuration of particles that looked exactly like me has randomly been in this same spot, doing the same things I am doing...

    WORSE, that this thing that looks and sounds like me and has the same name, has already done some of the things I've been meaning to do, and then I don't feel like doing them, cause A, I already did them, and B, I'll just have to do them again.

    At which point the only thing I care to think about is the infinite other versions of me that have existed through time, sitting on a Lazy Boy recliner watching Cartoon Network all day, and give him a double thumbs up. Cause, in the end, that's what it's really all about. And that would be the clincher folks, undeniable proof that I am right.

    --
    slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
  21. Just goes to show ... by torpor · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... that if you do enough navel-gazing, you will turn yourself inside out.

    --
    ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
  22. Re:Previous references by PetoskeyGuy · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe the super gravity also affects time in such a way that no matter what we seem to be discussing, it's always been discussed before on /.

  23. Newton Ate Mercury by handy_vandal · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... a lot of people thought Einstein and Newton were crazy ...

    Newton did go crazy, from (among other alchemical things) the mercury he ingested.

    -kgj

    --
    -kgj
    1. Re:Newton Ate Mercury by tigersha · · Score: 2, Funny

      And they say obesity is a 21'st century problem.

      Besides, if Newton ate Mercury Einstein would not have had to publish his theory of General Relativity to explain the discrepancy that Newton's theory of Gravity predicts for Mercury's orbit and Mercury's real orbit!

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
  24. Re:Gravastar by vsprintf · · Score: 3, Funny

    Gravastar. What is that all about? Is it good or is it whack?

    It's a minivan. You've been skipping over the commercials again, haven't you?

  25. Re:Previous references by Tablizer · · Score: 2, Funny

    Slashdot covered the gravastar theory when it was announced last year.

    "My God! It's full of dupes! My God! It's full of dupes! My God! It's full of dupes! My G...."

  26. Actually discovered in 1983 I think... by theendlessnow · · Score: 3, Funny

    I am Gravastar! Beware I live! Run! Run! Run!
    I am Gravastar! I hunger! Run, Coward!
    Run! Run! Run!

  27. Re:Infinite Recursion by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    When I try to think of time having already existed forever, then, I start to think about how some random configuration of particles that looked exactly like me has randomly been in this same spot, doing the same things I am doing...

    Don't worry about it... Soon, a random collection of particles in India will be doing the same things you are now doing.

  28. I live! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Oh wait... that's Sinistar.

  29. Re:Ahh human hubris as usual by stanmann · · Score: 2, Funny

    No it is logical

    Given:

    1. God exists
    2. God is high order infinite(Gamma) {knowledge space time}
    3. The Afterlife is low order infite(Beta) {time future}
    4. God will extrude into the afterlife
    5. God will participate with those in the afterlife

    Assumption:

    1. Based on my beliefs I will also be in the afterlife.
    BR Looks like just one Assumption...Of course you could put all the givens as also assumptions, but ...

    --
    Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
  30. The bet is off by lone_marauder · · Score: 3, Funny

    I guess Steven Hawking has to cancel that Playboy subscription.

    (if you don't get it, move along. There is something to "get" and your mod points are needed elsewhere. Thank you.)

    --
    who are those slashdot people? they swept over like Mongol-Tartars.
  31. I'm waiting for them to discover the Sinistar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    That would be *cool*