Slashdot Mirror
Scientists Forced To Reexamine Theories In Light of Massive Gamma-Ray Burst
cold fjord writes "Earlier this year we discussed news of a shockingly powerful gamma-ray burst. Scientists have had time to study the phenomenon, but it's not offering up any easy answers. The Christian Science Monitor reports, 'An exploded star some 3.8 billion light-years away is forcing scientists to overhaul much of what they thought they knew about gamma-ray bursts – intense blasts of radiation triggered, in this case, by a star tens of times more massive than the sun that exhausted its nuclear fuel, exploded, then collapsed to form a black hole. Last April, gamma rays from the blast struck detectors in gamma-ray observatories orbiting Earth, triggering a frenzy of space- and ground-based observations. Many of them fly in the face of explanations researchers have developed during the past 30 years ... "Some of our theories are just going down the drain," said Charles Dermer, an astrophysicist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico ... while typical long-duration bursts last from a few seconds to a few minutes, GRB 130427A put on its display for 20 hours. ... [W]ith GRB 130427A, some of the highest energy photons, including the new record-holder, appeared hours after the blast. "This is hard to explain with our current models," Dermer said. In addition, gamma rays and emissions at visible wavelengths brightened and dimmed in tandem, quite unexpected because theory suggested they come from different regions of the expanding shells of material and thus should have peaked and dimmed at different times. Finally, theorists had posited different mechanisms for generating gamma rays and X-rays that are part of the light show a long-duration gamma-ray burst puts on. The result should have been a fadeout for the two forms of light punctuated by periods where emissions were interrupted. Instead, the two dimmed smoothly. The theoretical edifice GRB 130427A is eroding has been 46 years in the making.' — The 21 November 2013 Science Express has abstracts for four related papers (first, second, third, fourth). More at Sky & Telescope and NASA."
You might then want to read up on it. The Christian Science Monitor has been around for a long time and has a strong record of integrity and high quality reporting. While owned by the CS the news side is segregated from the editorial side like most reputable newspapers. And the news side dominates. One of the better national newspapers of the US.
Only if you are entirely uninformed about American media. The CSM has no further connection to Christian Science in its editorial policy than the name its bylaws have stuck it with. (Even Mary Baker Eddy's desire that there be coverage of a religious theme has been opened up to any of the world's religions at all). It has won a number of Pulitzers and is one of the most respected publications in the country.
Alternative explanation: Hollywood has taught us that random objects may explode at any moment, even in the absence of combustibles or pressure.
Certain aspects of quantum theory teach us the same thing.
Almost, quantum theory explicitly requires an observer. Hollywood implicitly assumes observers paying $15 a ticket and another $40 for the BlurRay in 3 months. In fact, Hollywood assumes all possible observers will be observing and paying the full rates, so anything short of those predictions are losses due to piracy.
First of all, I'm not a physicist.
But, the fusion happening in a star means it's taking the hydrogen and helium and turning it into heavier elements like iron and the like. It's not "burning" fuel in the sense of consuming it and leaving smoke, but crazy big nuclear reactions are energetically making heavier kinds of matter (that's what fusion means, things are getting stuck together, as opposed to fission which is ripping things apart).
Once the crazy big nuclear reaction runs out, the forces keeping the star occupying a larger volume stop, and everything collapses in on itself.
Once that happens, it makes a really really big boom. Because eleventy zillion tons of hot iron and other stuff collapsing onto itself is, to make a huge understatement, exceedingly energetic -- to the point that it can briefly kick out things like gamma rays. (Because, as far as I understand, the magnitude of the collapse is well beyond anything we could even ponder and has a mass likely millions or billions of times that of the Earth.)
So the star hasn't exhausted its mass, it has exhausted its fuel. And then a really vast amount of mass collapses in on itself under its own gravity. And then we see some of the most energetic events we can even fathom. And the crazy collapse under gravity pushes matter to even more ridiculous levels of density, and then releases even more energy.
At least, that's my best understanding of it. I'm sure several people will tell me how horribly wrong I am. I already know it's horribly simplified.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Handily, there's a name for your post. It's called the Genetic Fallacy.
While it is true that the person starting the publication was roundly dismissed for her "science" (and for that matter, roundly dismissed by mainstream Christianity for her "Christianity")... that is completely irrelevant to the quality of the publication today. In spite of, or perhaps even attributable to extra scientific caution in a "defensive" reaction to that history, it is now quite highly-regarded for the scientific soundness of its articles.
Henry Ford was virulently antisemitic. Do you attack acquaintances today who own Ford cars? No need to answer. If (when) we reviewed your daily life, we'd undoubtedly find there is one and only one issue to which you apply this "logic"--religion.