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Astronomers Spy 288bn Mile Booze Cloud

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the quite-a-binge dept.

netmucus writes to tell us that UK astronomers have spotted a giant cloud of methyl alcohol that spans approximately 288bn miles. From the article: "The booze cloud was spotted using the UK's MERLIN radio telescopes in an area of our own galaxy rather uninspiringly called W3(OH). According to the Royal Astronomical Society blurb, this is a region where 'stars are being formed by the gravitational collapse of a cloud of gas and dust.'"

23 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. Except that this isn't drinkable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Methanol decomposes to formaldehyde and causes blindness.

    1. Re:Except that this isn't drinkable by Enderandrew · · Score: 3, Funny

      "Oh don't give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit No, don't give me none more of that Old Janx Spirit For my head will fly, my tongue will lie, my eyes will fry and I may die Won't you pour me one more of that sinful Old Janx Spirit."

      --
      http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
    2. Re:Except that this isn't drinkable by Caduceus1 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So, would that make this cloud "Moonshine"?

      --
      rm /dev/mem
      Sci-Fi Storm
  2. Similar reported before by dk-software-engineer · · Score: 2, Informative

    Similar cloud has been reported before, but this cloud is smaller.

    1. Re:Similar reported before by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hic!

      We finally found out what the Pioneer anomaly is.

      Absorbing 175 billion miles (I wonder how many pints that is?) of alcohol would make any spaceship wander off course.

      --
      liqbase :: faster than paper
  3. Methanol != booze by PunkOfLinux · · Score: 4, Informative

    The alcoholic component of booze is ETHANOL, (aka ethyl alcohol). This is not a booze cloud; an alcohol cloud, maybe... but not a booze cloud.

    --
    Show this to your friends and family that don't know what a real hacker is
    1. Re:Methanol != booze by joe+155 · · Score: 2, Funny

      toxic to you maybe, us silicon based lifeforms love the stuff...

      --
      *''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
    2. Re:Methanol != booze by Tx · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Actually, while methanol is indeed poisonous, the treatment for methanol poisoning is ethanol. So I'd say you can indeed get wasted on methanol, so long as you mix your drinks right ;).

      From Wikipedia:

      If methanol has been ingested, a doctor should be contacted immediately. The usual fatal dose: 100-125 mL (4 fl oz). Toxic effects take hours to start, and effective antidotes can often prevent permanent damage. This is treated using ethanol or fomepizole[3]. Either of these drugs acts to slow down the action of alcohol dehydrogenase on methanol by means of competitive inhibition, so that it is excreted by the kidneys rather than being transformed into toxic metabolites.


      No, I ain't tried it.
      --
      Oh no... it's the future.
  4. Alcohol by VincenzoRomano · · Score: 3, Funny

    In any case, you have to be at least 14 in order to get closer to that cloud.

    --
    Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
    For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
  5. Original article by VincenzoRomano · · Score: 4, Informative

    Is here while images are here

    --
    Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
    For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
  6. We need to counterbalance this! by Kohath · · Score: 5, Funny

    Quick, someone find a coffee cloud.

  7. In Unrelated News... by Enderandrew · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...Ford Prefect and the Heart of Gold were spotted nearby.

    --
    http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
  8. Not in the US by masterpenguin · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Here in the great US of A we're not allowed to touch booze until a full 3 years after we're allowed to shoot others in the name of the goverment, vote, and buy porn.

    1. Re:Not in the US by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Funny

      So, in other words, you're rather allowed to mess with someone else's life than with your own?

      NOW US politics make sense!

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  9. Methyl Alcohol is LETHAL, it's not booze by EmagGeek · · Score: 5, Informative

    many people have died from drinking methyl alcohol. Your body metabolizes Methyl Alcohol into formaldehyde, which kills you slowly and painfully.

    Booze is ETHYL alcohol.

    Methyl = CH3OH
    Ethyl = C2H5OH
    Propyl = C3H7OH
    Butyl = C4H9OH
    Pentyl = C5H11OH
    Hexyl = C6H13OH
    Septyl = C7H15OH
    Octyl = C8H17OH (Octane is C8H18)

    The main difference between Organic X-anes and Alcohols is that alcohols readily mix with water. This is why, even though alcohols burn more cleanly, we use X-anes for fuel. Alcohols are difficult to store and transport because they'll suck water out of anything, reducing their BTU density. They also have a much lower heat of vaporization, so they evaporate more quickly.

    Has anyone noticed that you can smell the ethyl alcohol in the new reformulated gas that is being sold? That kinda freaked me out the first time I noticed it. Smelled like Jagermeister... or Robitussin, depending on which you prefer...

    1. Re:Methyl Alcohol is LETHAL, it's not booze by wjsteele · · Score: 2, Informative

      "Alcohols are difficult to store and transport because they'll suck water out of anything..."

      I've actaully seen this 'feature' used for airplanes. Since Ethanol is becoming so common in auto gas, we need to remove it if it ever happens to get introduced in an airplane. Aviation Gas aka AvGas is 100 Octane Low Lead, but some planes (like mine) have an STC that allows us to use Auto Gas in them. But it must be pure, so having Ethanol in it is not allowed. To remove it, you simply dump water in the gas... which pulls out the ethanol and settles to the bottom. When that happens, you simply sump it out and all you're left with is pure gas. :-)

      Now, this is not a recommended technique... but if someone happens to dump E85 or something like that in it, we have a nice easy cure.

      Bill

      --
      It's my Sig and you can't have it. Mine! All Mine!
  10. Re:Hey Dude, by Enderandrew · · Score: 4, Funny

    It Scotland, your post would be translated as, "Hey Macleoud, get off my ewe!"

    --
    http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
  11. And now... by celotil · · Score: 3, Funny

    Australians are feverishly putting together a space program to rival that of NASA and the EU combined.

    "Davo! FTL by a month ta'morra!"

    --
    Te Quiero, Puta!
  12. oh no! by chasingporsches · · Score: 3, Funny

    ... and it's coming from Ted Kennedy's mansion.

  13. Hawking knows... by mgblst · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does this have anything to do with Stephen Hawking urging us all to get into Space asap?? Coincidence, I don't think so.

  14. Re:MMMmmmm.. aspartame. by AJWM · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The aspartame molecule as one, count 'em, one methyl group -- which ain't the same as methanol. (Other than that it's essentially a dipeptide, two amino acids). And there isn't much aspartame in a diet soda -- you'd have to drink many litres of the stuff to equal a spoonful of methanol.

    The dose makes the poison. A little bit of methanol won't hurt you. A lot of water will kill you (and I don't mean by drowning -- drinking too much water can kill you).

    By the way, know the antidote to drinking methanol? Get drunk. Yep, drinking sufficient ethanol to get you drunk also blocks the metabolic pathways in the liver that convert methanol to formaldehyde.

    --
    -- Alastair
  15. Re:MMMmmmm.. aspartame. by AJWM · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nope, not kidney failure. There are a couple of mechanisms -- really messed up blood chemistry is one, or severe generalized tissue swelling, which, in the case of the brain, causes trauma because there's nowhere for it to swell to. Happens if you're drinking water faster than your kidneys (and sweating) can get rid of it.

    There was a teenage girl in these parts about a year ago that went into a coma and died from precisely that -- she'd taken ecstasy which made her incredibly thirsty, and downed several liters of water in the course of an hour or so before collapsing. Autopsy report determined that drinking too much water was indeed the cause of death. Kind of sad really, it was at the girl's 16th birthday party.

    --
    -- Alastair
  16. Re:MMMmmmm.. aspartame. by denmarkw00t · · Score: 2, Informative

    from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov: "This article reviews several recent military cases and three deaths that have occurred as a result of overhydration, with resultant hyponatremia and cerebral edema. All of these cases are associated with more than 5 L (usually 10-20 L) of water intake during a period of a few hours." Though unlikely to occur with a healthy person, death can be the result of overhydration in people with kidney and heart problems. Taking in overly large amounts of water in a short span of time can also kill a normally healthy person, but the cases of this are few and far between ( and are often related to the use of MDMA and the improper judgement of sufficent water to remain hydrated ).