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The Arthur C. Clarke Gamma Ray Burst
Larry Sessions, a columnist for Earth & Sky, has suggested in his blog that the gamma-ray event whose radiation reached us a few hours before Arthur C. Clarke died, and which occurred 7.5 billion years ago, be named the Clarke Event. The outburst, which produced enough visible light to render it a naked-eye object across half the universe, is officially designated GRB 080319B. What more fitting tribute to Clarke than to associate his name with the greatest bang since the big one? Sessions suggests writing to any astronomers, heads of physics departments, or planetarium operators you know and talking up the proposal.
Just don't name any missions to Europa after him! That would probably upset him.
I got a catholic block.
If they find a large cluster of stars in the near future, I'll recommend "The Dick Cheney Clusterfuck."
So long, Mr. Clarke, and thanks for all the fiction...
eleven plus two / twelve plus one
"Look," whispered a Slashdotter, and Jollyreaper lifted his eyes to heaven. (There is always a last time for everything.)
Overhead, in glorious blazes of gamma radiation, the stars were going out.
What more fitting tribute to Clarke than to associate his name with the greatest bang since the big one?
But Zaphod Beeblebrox already has a name. :)
Ever since I was a kid I wondered who this Haley was that first threw a comet out of our atmosphere.
Reviewing just the first hour of video games.
We're just seeing this news on Slashdot now? This hit digg 7.49 Billion years ago.
An explosive event in space named after Clarke? Oh, great....
Please proceed to the counter to have your geek card revoked for the combined failure in incorrectly citing a classic AND incorrectly using a hyperlink and inadvertently pointing out your own first failure.
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
There were so many stars you could have used. What was the need to give those people to the fire, so the symbol of their passing might shine above Sri Lanka?
Les Miserables Volume 1 now up with my reading of
Seriously, what if there's a inhabited planet around one of those stars and they find out what we think of them some day? We might be the ones who end up getting the shock-and-awe treatment, with a Mother Of All Nova Bombs.
The only collection of objects that might deserve the name Cheney might be a scattering of parasite-ridden coyote droppings. Although given that scavenger dung may have better poll ratings . . .
Overhead, in glorious blazes of gamma radiation, the stars were going out. "No, you dolt," said Jollyreaper. "It is a passing cloud." (The simplest explanation is usually the best.)
"Ah, so it is," replied the Anonymous Coward, and crawled back into his cave.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne