September 19, 2006
Check this out (emphasis mine) from Gregg Easterbrook's fascinating column entitled "Cosmic thoughts - Bummer Edition" today at ESPN.com (scroll down slightly more than halfway if the page toploads) (or ABC):
Recently, I was creeped out by this supernova. Detected Feb. 18 by Swift, a satellite launched to look for gamma-ray bursts, the exploding star already was the 24th supernova discovered at that early point in 2006. As instruments improve, exploding stars appear more common than cosmologists had expected, and that's not the best news we might have heard. Coded GRB 060218, this star detonation began as a gamma-ray burst that lasted 33 minutes -- absolutely stunning because previous gamma-ray bursts from space have lasted a few seconds at the most. The gamma rays came from 470 million light-years away. That was discomfiting because strong gamma-ray bursts usually emanate from what astronomers call the "deep field," billions of light-years distant and thus billions of years back in the past. A distance of 470 million light-years means the GRB 060218 supernova happened 470 million years ago. That is ancient by human reckoning, but many cosmologists had been assuming the kind of extremely massive detonations thought to cause strong gamma-ray busts occurred only in the misty eons immediately after the Big Bang. The working assumption was that since life appeared on Earth, there had been no stellar mega-explosion. Now we know there has.Gulp...For several days as the giant dying star GRB 060218 collapsed, this single supernova shined brighter than all 100 billion other suns in its galaxy combined. The detonation was so inexpressibly luminous that, though 470 million light-years distant, it could be seen by telescopes on Earth. And not just fancy telescopes at the tops of mountains: A few days after the Swift satellite detected the gamma-ray surge, an amateur astronomer in the Netherlands sighted the forming supernova through a backyard telescope. The stellar coordinates hit the Web -- it was at RA: 03:21:39.71 Dec: +16:52:02.6 -- and soon amateur astronomers the world over were marveling at the glistening beacon from the cosmic past. This explosion released so much energy that it happened 470 million years ago yet the light could travel for that protracted period, plus pass through the gas and dust of roughly a hundred galaxies along the way, and still illuminate mirrors of backyard telescopes on Earth.
Now here's what creeped me out: had GRB 060218 happened in our galaxy, life on Earth would have ended Feb. 18.
...read it all if you dare.
ht: Rush Limbaugh show
Cross-posted at Mein Blogovault.
Posted by: Good Lt. at
03:11 PM
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Posted by: Oyster at September 19, 2006 03:25 PM (abcRW)
Posted by: Editor at September 19, 2006 03:38 PM (adpJH)
Posted by: greyrooster at September 19, 2006 03:39 PM (axEUn)
Posted by: EricInTexas at September 19, 2006 03:46 PM (BCh4D)
UFOs must come here out of sheer amazement that we're still around. Well, it's either that or the Krispy Kremes.
Posted by: INFInitely DELivered at September 19, 2006 03:51 PM (xdG5W)
And, personally, I think the ET's show up here for the BBQ pork and cerveza...
Posted by: EricInTexas at September 19, 2006 03:59 PM (BCh4D)
Quit trying to steal Al Gore's thunder. You know "climate change" is the numero uno big time problem facing civilization. Just because a few crackpots with nuclear weapons want to destroy half the World, well, hey, don't worry about that. That nuclear winter thing might just halt global warming, right, Al.
Posted by: jesusland joe at September 19, 2006 04:16 PM (rUyw4)
Thanks for the enlightenment.
We did not even know to be afraid!
Posted by: haywood jablowmi at September 19, 2006 04:19 PM (VUmVc)
These liberal and satan worshiping astronomers are trying to poison our children and country with their anti christian filth.
enough is enough.
Posted by: Austin Garrigan at September 19, 2006 04:33 PM (WbrFu)
Posted by: EricInTexas at September 19, 2006 04:38 PM (BCh4D)
Posted by: jesusland joe at September 19, 2006 04:58 PM (rUyw4)
Posted by: EricInTexas at September 19, 2006 05:05 PM (BCh4D)
Posted by: Grayson at September 19, 2006 05:11 PM (3Vh45)
Posted by: Jester at September 19, 2006 05:13 PM (TuAMG)
All catholics will go to hell unless they are born again.
Praise Jesus and God Bless America
Posted by: Austin Garrigan at September 19, 2006 05:14 PM (WbrFu)
Posted by: Jester at September 19, 2006 05:27 PM (TuAMG)
Posted by: jesusland joe at September 19, 2006 05:49 PM (rUyw4)
Where does the Bible say the universe was created 6k years ago?
Posted by: Philip at September 19, 2006 05:51 PM (G2xOm)
Posted by: Last gasp Larry at September 19, 2006 05:53 PM (Dd86v)
It is a sig! A sign! God be praised!
Or maybe God just fired one across our bow knowing we can see that far to send us a message.
Hmmmm
Posted by: SeeMonk at September 19, 2006 07:00 PM (n4VvM)
Posted by: Insomniac at September 19, 2006 07:56 PM (ds0+e)
Posted by: Jack'sSmirkingRevenge at September 19, 2006 08:01 PM (CtVG6)
Posted by: Farty McNasty at September 20, 2006 02:15 AM (u3bd/)
The working assumption was that since life appeared on Earth, there had been no stellar mega-explosion. Now we know there has.
I mean, Jurassic era was 60 million years before, and this was 8 times before. I'm no biologist, but I do not think there were no intelligent apes in that time...
Posted by: Pablo at September 21, 2006 05:48 AM (VPvXe)
There have never been any intelligent apes in the media either ;->
Posted by: Purple Avenger at September 21, 2006 11:13 AM (ZVOjz)
That honour goes to GRB 980425, which was ten times
closer. The reality is that gamma-ray bursts are
not much of a risk to us. On would need to be very
close to use to pose a threat, and it would need to
be pointed directly at us, which is unlikely because
gamma-ray bursts are highly beamed. Worry about
Yellowstone erupting, or a comet striking us before
you worry about gamma-ray bursts.
Posted by: Stephen Holland at September 22, 2006 07:50 AM (NIlZJ)
Posted by: Kuklush at September 25, 2006 06:25 PM (lpoDe)
Posted by: Kuklush at September 25, 2006 06:26 PM (fjUf0)
Posted by: Kuklush at September 25, 2006 06:26 PM (+S0/Q)
Posted by: Kuklush at September 25, 2006 06:26 PM (Oa39L)
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