LinkA spectacular, rotating binary star system is a ticking time bomb, ready to throw out a searing beam of high-energy gamma rays - and Earth may be right in the line of fire.
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The researchers took images of the system, known as WR 104, over a period of eight years using Hawaii's Keck Telescope. These images reveal a vast and glowing plume of heated dust and gas, billowing out in a spiral as the stars rotate once every eight months. This 'tail' is up to 30 billion kilometres long.But something curious about the images caught the attention of the experts.
"Viewed from Earth, the rotating tail appears to be laid out on the sky in an almost perfect spiral. It could only appear like that if we are looking nearly exactly down on the axis of the binary system," said Tuthill.
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This means we are peering down the barrel of the gun, as when binary supernovae go off, all their energy is focussed into a narrow beam of wildly destructive gamma ray radiation that emanates (both up and down) from the poles of the system.
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 vizco |
Binary 'deathstar' has Earth in its sights |
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Posts: 3037 03-06-08 10:14 AM Raid Peon |
 Harmony of Souls : My Quiver All this science I don't understand; it's just my job five days a week. |
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 Ididar Tzan |
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Posts: 2497 03-06-08 12:13 PM |
How is Bruce Willis going to save us from this one?
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Zifnab |
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Posts: 2639 03-06-08 1:29 PM |
at 8,000 light years away I'm not so concerned.
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Ididar Tzan |
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Posts: 2497 03-06-08 2:13 PM |
Oh? A gamma ray burst 6500 light years away could wipe out all life on this planet. 8000 light years away is certainly going to have an effect.
Granted, they say that binary system will take hundreds of thousands of years to go supernovae, but still. The distance isn't a clincher. By the time we see it go supernova we'll be already feeling the effects. Not that you or I will be around to see it, but still. |
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vizco |
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Posts: 3037 03-06-08 2:32 PM Raid Peon |
Granted, they say that binary system will take hundreds of thousands of years to go supernovaeActually they said "probably will take..." To be fair they also say it may not be actually be aimed directly at us. On the other hand, I wonder how much such a burst would spread... "The Universe's Biggest Shotgun Blast." Harmony of Souls : My Quiver All this science I don't understand; it's just my job five days a week. |
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Ididar Tzan |
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Posts: 2497 03-06-08 2:44 PM |
Essentially, yeah, pretty big shotgun blast. They theorize that one of the extinction events in history was a gamma ray burst.
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Zitoh |
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Posts: 294 03-06-08 6:34 PM |
Somebody call Algore!
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Soygen |
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Posts: 7112 03-06-08 10:43 PM 100% Soybean |
Everybody panic.
I'm not givin' you attitude. I just want another drink.
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fatesdefiance |
#8 | |||
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Posts: 3105 03-06-08 11:09 PM Community Member |
Zifnab wrote: Keep in mind, the system could conceivably have already gone supernova 7,999 years ago...
Hunter Tarryn Valewalker -- Twisted Fates
(Prexus - Retired) Nightshade Tarryn Valewalker -- Kingfisher Brigade EQ2 - Unrest Tarryn of Dale, Hunter -- Dies Irae LotRO - Meneldor |
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Zifnab |
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Posts: 2639 03-07-08 2:14 PM |
Oh? A gamma ray burst 6500 light years away could wipe out all life on this planet. 8000 light years away is certainly going to have an effect.I'm not refering to distance. I'm refering to angle of projection. So we are now looking down the barrel of a gun as of 8,000 years ago... Now.. If it went supernova 7,999 years ago maybe we'd have a problem... I would be surprised if astronomers 100,000 years from now had the same vantage point...
Last Edited By: Zifnab 03-07-08 2:34 PM.
Edited 2 times.
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Ididar Tzan |
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Posts: 2497 03-07-08 3:44 PM |
I'm sure they could figure it out. Based on the length of the "tail" of the system they spoke about and the speed of it through space they could
tell exactly how long its been going in this direction and how long until its angle changes.
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Falkahnhan |
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Posts: 2625 03-30-08 10:50 PM |
Just make sure you're on the side of the Earth opposite this star when the gamma ray burst arrives.
- Joe
I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which grants a right to Congress of
expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.
- James Madison |
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Ersiusp |
#12 | |||
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Posts: 2294 03-30-08 11:04 PM 1-900-Santa |
But I want superpowers!
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Ididar Tzan |
#13 | |||
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Posts: 2497 03-31-08 6:42 AM |
Knowing your luck, your superpower will be invisibility, but only for your left leg, so the most you can hope for is a bit of sympathy while standing in a
lineup.
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Federiko EQ |
#14 | |||
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Posts: 3288 04-01-08 10:31 AM You can never have too |
But at least tripping people would be oodles of fun.
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Soygen |
#15 | |||
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Posts: 7112 04-01-08 12:01 PM 100% Soybean |
Oh man, I didn't see that comin'. The leg I mean.
I'm not givin' you attitude. I just want another drink.
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Ersiusp |
#16 | |||
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Posts: 2294 04-01-08 3:20 PM 1-900-Santa |
Well, as powers go, I guess being able to park in handicapped spots without really being handicapped wouldn't be bad. Beats the hell out of talking to
flowers.
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Ididar Tzan |
#17 | |||
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Posts: 2497 04-02-08 11:20 AM |
Flowers are terribly interesting I'll have you know.
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