A 10 billion billion billion megaton bomb in space!

BBC ^ | Friday, 21 July, 2000, 18:05 GMT 19:05 UK | Dr David Whitehouse

[vannrox]

Friday, 21 July, 2000, 18:05 GMT 19:05 UK

A 10 billion billion billion megaton bomb in space

KPD1930+2752 is in the constellation of Cygnus

By BBC News Online science editor Dr David Whitehouse

Astronomers have found a star that will produce one of the biggest explosions in our Universe.

The star, known as KPD1930+2752, will explode within the next 200 million years.

UK researchers believe it is the first star of its kind to be found. They say it may hold the clues to where the stuff that makes up our bodies comes from and perhaps to the future of the Universe itself.

KPD1930+2752 is actually two stars. One is a hot, bright star. The other is a faint, dense star, known as a white dwarf.

The hot star whirls around the white dwarf taking just 137 minutes to complete one trip around its companion.

Pierre Maxted and colleagues, from the University of Southampton, say that KPD1930+2752 is doomed. Energy is being lost due to so-called "gravitational radiation." This means that the stars will collide within the next 200 million years.

Metallic debris

When that happens, there will be a gigantic explosion called a supernova. It will be bright enough to be seen from the other side of the Universe.

Technically known as a Type Ia supernova, the explosion will scatter metallic debris into space, particularly iron, nickel and cobalt. Almost all the iron on the Earth comes from Type Ia supernovae which exploded billions of years ago.

Type Ia supernovae are important for astronomers because they all reach roughly the same brightness when they explode. Because of this, astronomers can use them to measure the scale of space.

By using this method, astronomers have found that the Universe is not only expanding, but that the expansion appears to be speeding up.

The method only works if Type Ia supernovae in distant galaxies are the same as the ones nearby.

Now that KPD1930+2752 has been found, it can be studied in detail so that astronomers can work out how Type Ia supernovae in distant galaxies might behave and so, perhaps, help determine the fate of the Universe itself.

The discovery of KPD1930+2752 will be published in Monthly Notices of The Royal Astronomical Society.

[vannrox]

I think that this star system needs a new name. "KPD1930+2752" just doesn't have the pazazz needed to sell it to the American people.

[billorites]

"A 10 billion billion billion megaton bomb in space"

Women and minorities hardest hit.

[Simmy2.5]

will explode within the next 200 million years

Get the popcorn out people!

[Wissa]

I was planning on turning in early tonight, but this sounds like it would be worth staying up for.

[tet68]

How about, Dean04Yeeearrgh!

WE'RE gonna explode and we're gonna take in the sun, the earth, the moon, and mars and venus and mercury, and then we're gonna take in the White House! Yeeearrrgh!

[balrog666]

Bomb number 20

[StriperSniper]

Hey! Maybe we can use it to cut THIS. ;-)

[tet68]

That's what I thought too, what's a few millennium past my bed time.

It would be worth it just to hear the Rats scream about how it was all a result of GW's enviromental policies.

[longshadow]

type 1a ping

[RichInOC]

WHAT YOU SAY!!

[COEXERJ145]

"A 10 billion billion billion megaton bomb in space"

Women and minorities hardest hit.

The DNC issued a press release calling for an independent, bipartisan commission to learn "What did Bush know and when did he know it?"

John Kerry also issued a statement saying that obviously the President is ineffective as a leader since he has not done more to protect women and minorities from this coming event.

[vezke]

You cant hug with nuclear arms! :(

[michigander]

The star, known as KPD1930+2752, will explode within the next 200 million years.

"WILL EXPLODE"...
What a prognostication. We're Doomed, Doomed, DOOMED!

Oh the Humanity...

[Consort]

...will explode within the next 200 million years...

We need a live thread.

[Larry Lucido]

One is a hot, bright star.

When celestial warming goes unchecked. Paging Al Gore.

[michigander]

Please add me to the 200 millon year(ish) ping list.

[Kerberos]

"The star, known as KPD1930+2752, will explode within the next 200 million years."

Boy I need to start seeing that preparations are in place for that.

[Glenn]

How many light years is this star from the lens? Is it already gone and we're just waiting for the light in the sky?

[inquest]

I think that this star system needs a new name. "KPD1930+2752" just doesn't have the pazazz needed to sell it to the American people.

It's in Cygnus...

...Swan's Egg?

[edwin hubble]

type 1a ping

Thanks for the type 1a ping, longshadow.

Type 1a ...like the explosion of a hydrogen bomb approximately the size of the Earth but containing the mass of the Sun.

And only about 1 per millennium per galaxy of our size.

Last big one was probably the Crab Nebula (typeII) in 1054, recorded by Chinese as a 'guest star', but not in the West.