Posted on 02/19/2005 7:01:28 AM PST by OEM39
Astronomers say they have been stunned by the amount of energy released in a star explosion on the far side of our galaxy, 50,000 light-years away.
The flash of radiation on 27 December was so powerful that it bounced off the Moon and lit up the Earth's atmosphere.
The blast occurred on the surface of an exotic kind of star - a super-magnetic neutron star called SGR 1806-20.
If the explosion had been within just 10 light-years, Earth could have suffered a mass extinction, it is said.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime event Dr Rob Fender, Southampton University "We figure that it's probably the biggest explosion observed by humans within our galaxy since Johannes Kepler saw his supernova in 1604," Dr Rob Fender, of Southampton University, UK, told the BBC News website.
One calculation has the giant flare on SGR 1806-20 unleashing about 10,000 trillion trillion trillion watts.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. We have observed an object only 20km across, on the other side of our galaxy, releasing more energy in a 10th of a second than the Sun emits in 100,000 years," said Dr Fender.
more http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4278005.stm
INTERSTELLAR DUST TSUNAMI!!! GET AWAY FROM THE PLANETS!!!
20 kilometers across?
Someone set us up the bomb.
Clearly Bush's fault!
"If the explosion had been within just 10 light-years, Earth could have suffered a mass extinction, it is said."
I am curious about what the effects would be that would cause extinction.
A lot of dangerous things out there. Sure glad there’s a lot of room.
We're all gonna die!!!
So, WHO said this, and what does he/she know?
And, of course--this is all President Bush's fault because we didn't sign the Kyoto accords/sarcasm
This has been going around the news sources since yesterday...this is the fourth I think, all sourced from different news services (space.com and a couple of others) to carry this story.
Still, for those of us who like astronomical stuff, it is interesting...
"If the explosion had been within just 10 light-years, Earth could have suffered a mass extinction, it is said."
"There will come a day when Hillery! will speak the truth
and monkeys will fly out of her butt, it is said."
Magnitude 2819829930.5 - Star SGR 1806-20. 2005 February 19 00:04:44 UTC Preliminary Starquake Report Federation Geological Survey, Interstellar Starquake Information Center Galactic Data Center for Cosmology, Denver A strong starquake occurred at 00:04:44 (UTC) on Saturday, February 19, 2005. The magnitude 2819829930.5 event has been located in Star SGR 1806-20. (This event has been reviewed by a Cosmologist.) INTERSTELLAR DUST TSUNAMI ALERT -- There is a high probability of a dangerous Interstellar Dust Tsunami. Inhabitants of all populated worlds are advised to board deep-space craft until tsunami danger has passed. Magnitude 2819829930.5 Date-Time Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 00:04:44 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time Saturday, February 19, 2005 at 8:04:44 AM = local time at epicenter Time of Starquake in other Time Zones Location 5.559°S, 122.058°E Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program Distances Location Uncertainty horizontal +/- 7.9 km (4.9 miles); depth fixed by location program Parameters Nst=172, Nph=172, Dmin=>999 km, Rmss=1.05 sec, Gp= 36°, M-type=teleseismic moment magnitude (Mw), Version=8 Source USGS NEIC (WDCS-D) Event ID usurbm
Yup. Well. What can you say? It's the flip side of being alive.
Expect to hear from my attorneys.
She seems to be the most popular candidate so far....
You do understand that light-year is a measure of distance?
The effects of the event just reached the earth on December 27 of last year. Nothing from the event reached the earth until that date.
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