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Powerful Blast Confuses Astronomers

eldavojohn writes "Astronomers are still speculating as to what could have caused an abnormally strong five millisecond burst to be detected six years ago when it completely saturated their recording equipment. From the article: 'The burst was so bright that at the time it was first recorded it was dismissed as man-made radio interference. It put out a huge amount of power (10exp33 Joules), equivalent to a large (2000MW) power station running for two billion billion years.'"

24 of 330 comments (clear)

  1. The answer: by JonTurner · · Score: 4, Funny

    God sneezed.

    1. Re:The answer: by I+Like+Pudding · · Score: 4, Funny

      Him Bless Him.

    2. Re:The answer: by liquidsin · · Score: 5, Funny

      would it come off as rude if you told God to "go bless Yourself"?

      --
      do not read this line twice.
  2. News? by tringstad · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, something happened 6 years ago, and nobody knew what it was.

    They still don't.

    Where's the fucking news?

    --
    "I got a half gallon of Jack, and 2 dozen Ant Traps. I'm about to get wild." -me
    1. Re:News? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      So, something happened 6 years ago
      Incorrect ... something happened three billion and six years ago.
  3. It's a message from the aliens: by Chemisor · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Die, spammer, die!"

    1. Re:It's a message from the aliens: by n6kuy · · Score: 4, Funny

      That's German for, "The spammer, the", right?

      --
      If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.
  4. The Great Green Arkleseizure.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Coming Of The Great White Handkerchief is at hand.

  5. You'd think geeks would know immediately by sunwukong · · Score: 4, Funny

    The amount of this dispersion, the astronomers said, indicates that the signal likely originated about three billion light-years from Earth. Lesse, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away ...

    Deathstar I or II?
  6. Re:Confused; instead of donkeys per forthnite etc by spoonist · · Score: 4, Funny

    Hmmm.... yeah.... but what's that in Libraries of Congress??

  7. Re:What's a "god"? by DaveWick79 · · Score: 4, Funny

    God doesn't believe in atheists; therefore, atheists do not exist.

  8. Easily explained by sker · · Score: 3, Funny

    I picked up the same thing on my instruments.. it was just a video clip of Hitler introducing the 1936 Olympics... that's all. Nothing to see here. Move along.

    --
    nonsig. unsig. desig.
  9. Re:Due diligence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The difference between capturing a bullet with a 24fps and capturing a bullet with a slow-mo camera is the slow-mo camera costs more to replace.
    I, for one, am not made of money, and I'll stick to shooting at 24fps cameras.

  10. Re:Due diligence by MillionthMonkey · · Score: 3, Funny

    How do you differentiate Beethoven's 5th from noise based on a 5 ms sample?

    If it had been a 9 ms pulse, we'd certainly know which symphony it was.

  11. Re:It was the negative creative energy unleashed by ABoerma · · Score: 4, Funny

    They felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

  12. Re:Confused; instead of donkeys per forthnite etc by Quixote · · Score: 5, Funny

    Glad you asked.

    E = mc^2 ; so m = E/c^2 .
    Plug in 10^33 for E, and 3x10^8 for c.
    You get m = 11111111111111111 Kg.
    Assume each book in LoC weighs on average 2Kg to simplify things.
    At last count the LoC had about 20M books.
    Dividing 11111111111111111 by (20,000,000 * 2), we get 277777777.
    In other words, this was equivalent to 277 million libraries of Congress.
    // E&OE

  13. We don't have this phenomenon... by DaftShadow · · Score: 4, Funny

    We don't have atheists like in your country... we do not have this phenomenon. I don't know who's told you that we have this.

  14. Re:Because it's AUSTRALIAN news. by Surt · · Score: 4, Funny

    1,2 : large
    3,4,5 : medium
    6+ : small

    It's the standard scientific ranking system.

    --
    "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  15. Re:What's an "athiest"? by Greg_D · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is that a label which cultists apply to those who refuse to join their cult?

    Windows users.

  16. Re:Due diligence by flappinbooger · · Score: 3, Funny

    Death Star. Luke Skywalker. You know, the movie. Long long ago in a galaxy far far away? 3 billion light years sounds about right!

    --
    Flappinbooger isn't my real name
  17. Re:Due diligence by MousePotato · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Tom, I can name that tune in <1 ms..."

  18. "Powerful Blast Confuses Astronomers" by autophile · · Score: 3, Funny

    After the blast, astronomers from universities across the country were seen wandering dazedly through the halls and campus greens. The sky-gazers did not seem to know where they were, nor what they were doing there. Some astronomers were found in a parking lot below Mt. Palomar, with car keys in their hands, unable to locate their own vehicles. Some had to be given emergency oxygen because, not knowing their altitude, they had forgotten their oxygen masks.

    Emergency psychiatrists were called in to deal with the situation.

    "I've never seen anything like it," said Dr. Itznada Seegar of the Federal Emergency Psychiatric Adminstration. "These astronomers are, to put it in layman's terms, dazed and confused. You can use that movie reference, right?"

    Dr. Adeep S. Komplacs posited a new cosmic psychic ray. Surrounded by clouds of THC byproducts, he remarked, "I've heard of cosmic rays, but this was one cosmic cosmic ray, dude!"

    As things slowly return to normal, said one Astronomy Department head, "Thank God the effect is wearing off. Now we can get our astronomers' heads back in the clouds."

    --
    Towards the Singularity.
  19. Re:wow! by murdocj · · Score: 3, Funny

    Having occasionally read the at -1, I'd have to say thank God for the mod system.

  20. Stupid "Funny" Comments by Fleetie · · Score: 4, Funny

    Fuck me; isn't there any way to filter out ALL comments modded "Funny"? Because they aren't "funny"; they're asinine, and indicative of people who DON'T understand the present subject, and can only grunt like pigs. This is interesting; so STOP with the "funny" comments already. Fuck, and I thought this was a forum for people with some intelligence and knowledge. I thought I was going somewhere interesting, and I wandered into a pig farm, and now I'm stinking and covered in shit and have gruntinnitus. Free clue: If you're intending to post something with the hope that it be modded "funny", then STOP NOW, because you're a sad 'tard that needs at least a damn good kicking, and possibly a bullet in the head - or to escape that, go out and get yourself a fucking girlfriend.

    --
    "Absorbing your worst..."