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'Death Star' Aimed at Earth
An anonymous reader writes "A spectacular, rotating binary star system is a ticking time bomb, ready to throw out a searing beam of high-energy gamma rays that could lead to a major extinction event — and Earth may be right in the line of fire. Australian science magazine Cosmos Magazine reports: 'Though the risk may be remote, there is evidence that gamma ray bursts have swept over the planet at various points in Earth's history with a devastating effect on life. A 2005 study showed that a gamma-ray burst originating within 6,500 light years of Earth could be enough to strip away the ozone layer and cause a mass extinction. Researchers led by Adrian Melott at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, U.S., suggest that such an event may have been responsible for a mass extinction 443 million years ago, in the late Ordovician period, which wiped out 60 per cent of life and cooled the planet.'"
The problem is that we see the star as it was 6500 years ago. As far as we know, it could have already exploded, and a good bunch of gamma rays be coming to us right now. So you were right, we're doomed ^^
The science on that episode (and most later episodes) was like the computer terminology thrown around in Hackers-- if you knew how wrong it was, it was almost painful to watch/hear. IIRC, the pulsars looked like empty toilet paper rolls with light coming out of the ends. And they didn't just irradiate Earth and leave it physically intact but lifeless, they made it blow up. Ugh, I'm shaking my head in disgust at the mere memory of it.
That show started off great and is 100% responsible for me getting interested in the alternate-history genre. Unfortunately, after the creator left they just resorted to stealing movie plots and it got downright ridiculous and pathetic.
~Philly
And faster than light communications, otherwise the message will reach us at eh same time as the radiation.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
Time dilation is a strange thing. To the photons the travel is instantaneous. Yet for all other objects we have to "catch" up with them which in this case would be 6,500 yrs in the future. Of course for us to visit that location 6,500 light yrs away at our barbaric speeds it'd be 5 x 10^18 yrs till we got there. If photons have no understanding of time, and if the photons have already reached every point in space as soon as they are discharged, then why does it still take time for us to see them far away? Some things will never make sense.
You are correct, but as the light we are seeing from the star right now also traveled the same distance. It could have shot out a gamma ray 7,999 years ago and we could be toast within the year. I am no scientist either, but I figure both light waves would travel at the same speed.
"But this one goes to 11!"
If you believe that everything contradicting a literal interpretation of the Bible is a lie, you're missing even more.
Why is science the only profession where if you're not curing cancer or feeding the poor, you're wasting your time? What have you done to save the Earth today, asshole?
The first rule of research is that more research is always needed. You don't see too many papers that end with "Yep, that's everything" :)
5) The political answer, it would cost too much, so lets forget about it and allow future generations figure something out
You don't know that. Some of the posters might have been relatively further away and it just took the message longer to get to you, but they might have posted at earlier.
Or, maybe that's the point...
Yep.
However, we might be able to spot changes in a star leading up to the actual burst. If we knew what to look for.
But then again, I could be wrong.
If you believe that everything contradicting a literal interpretation of the Bible is a lie, you're missing even more.
That's exactly the point I was trying to make. They're creation stories, not docu-dramas. Ask, "what insight is the author of this text trying to convey?" not "How can I rationalize a story to fit a literal history I want to believe in."
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