How big?
I've seen links to this on a couple blogs, so I think the concepts here are resonating with quite a few people....
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/06/20/eta-car-tick-tock-tick-tock/
I hope I get to see this in my lifetime, but I'll go over the highlights:
Humongous star (Eta Carinae) 7500 Light years distant, has almost certainly already gone Super Nova and the news just hasn't reached us yet. Once it does, it will probably be as bright as the full moon. Which is pretty impressive in itself (being so very far away).. Impressive point number two:
"Note that the lobes appear to be tilted away from us by about 40 degrees or so. That’s a good thing. When stars like Eta Carinae explode, they tend to shoot of beams of energy and matter that, at its distance of 7500 light years, could kill every living thing on Earth. But since it’s pointed away from us, all we’ll get is a spectacular light show. If you’re keeping score at home, gamma-ray burst aimed at you = bad, pretty supernova with no accompanying high energy radiation = good."
Think about being on the losing side of that one: Just like that, everything you know is gone because of something that happened 7500 years ago, 7500 light years away, and there wouldn't be a thing you could do to stop it. Try to imagine how a society would function while staring down the barrel of that gun...
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2007/06/20/eta-car-tick-tock-tick-tock/
I hope I get to see this in my lifetime, but I'll go over the highlights:
Humongous star (Eta Carinae) 7500 Light years distant, has almost certainly already gone Super Nova and the news just hasn't reached us yet. Once it does, it will probably be as bright as the full moon. Which is pretty impressive in itself (being so very far away).. Impressive point number two:
"Note that the lobes appear to be tilted away from us by about 40 degrees or so. That’s a good thing. When stars like Eta Carinae explode, they tend to shoot of beams of energy and matter that, at its distance of 7500 light years, could kill every living thing on Earth. But since it’s pointed away from us, all we’ll get is a spectacular light show. If you’re keeping score at home, gamma-ray burst aimed at you = bad, pretty supernova with no accompanying high energy radiation = good."
Think about being on the losing side of that one: Just like that, everything you know is gone because of something that happened 7500 years ago, 7500 light years away, and there wouldn't be a thing you could do to stop it. Try to imagine how a society would function while staring down the barrel of that gun...
posted by jerdavis at 4:36 PM
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