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Orion Nebula Gets New Milepost Marker, Now Closer
twilight30 writes "Discovery News is reporting that 'One of the most famous and scrutinized heavenly objects is 10 to 20 percent closer than we thought, say two teams of radio astronomers who have made some of the most precise cosmic distance measurements ever, with a telescope nearly as big as Earth. The Orion Nebula is the closest major stellar nursery to Earth, so it has been heavily studied to learn about the lives of stars. Its distance from Earth, however, has long been a matter of uncertainty, with an estimate made about 25 years ago in need of revision.'"
That's nothing. They needed a computer nearly the size of Jupiter to process the data.
I wonder what they mounted it on! And yes, I did not RTFA - this is /., you insensitive clod
See that long UID - that's what you get for lurking too long
Fortunately it will get caught in Xeno's paradox.
_____
Thank you.
Very good question. I can only reply by pointing to the scalar polarisation effect negating the red/blue doppler shift you mention. Couple that with Newtonian dynamics in question, and you have a very good correction mechanism along the theta axis. Not to mention that the wibble-wobble isn't nearly as unstable as once thought.
Wow, I'm full of shit.
What is is all that is. Isn't that obvious?
how the summary should have gone: /summary /end summary
:P
the orion nebula is ___ light years away
end of story
Let's just wait a little longer and we won't have to reprint all those textbooks.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
"Impacted" Plot: In the year 2050 the Earth almost crashes into the Orion Nebula, only to be rescued from destruction by two nerdy radio astronomers from Parkes Observatory in the middle of nowhere in Australia, who, whilst trying to find a cure for constipation from eating too much McDongles(TM) Impact McBurglettes, find that by injecting massive amounts of First Fleet Enema into the Nebula they can cut a path through the Nebula. The romantic part of the movie is where the local district nurse shows up and a tense love triangle is set up between herself and the astronomers.. etc..etc
Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
Warning: Objects in telescope are closer than they appear.
--Rob
Towards the Singularity.
...four elephants standing on the back of a turtle.
Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
You just don't get it! All they're doing now is using Excel 2007 to calculate the distance. No wonder they're seeing this anomaly!
>One of the most famous and scrutinized heavenly objects is 10 to 20 percent closer than we thought
In other words, Natalie Portman moved from Boston to New York.
Apparently that manoeuvre also eliminates apostrophes. Who knew.
What is is all that is. Isn't that obvious?
Hmmm... 10 to 20 percent closer in 25 years... (gets out calculator)... that means that it will be here in 125 to 250 years!!!
I for one welcome our invading Orion Nebula overlords.
It's coming right at us!
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue...
-Steve McCroskey
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."