Pillars of Creation Toppled By Stellar Blast

Space.com ^ | 1/9/2007 | Ker Than

[RobRoy]

>>Humans living 1,000 to 2,000 years ago might have noticed the supernova event that destroyed the pillars as an unusually bright star in the sky. <<

Hmmm. Anybody remember anything about a star and three smart guys about 2000 years ago?

[Larry Lucido]

Thanks. So my plans to "shock and awe" the galactic councils are still possible.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

I wanna know what the President knew, and when he knew it.

Impeachment!

[Calvin Locke]

If you think that is funky, Hubble *saw* back, what, 13 billion years? Our part of the universe is only ~5 billion years old. So, anybody in that 13 billion portion has got a ways to wait before they can even *see* us.

[mcshot]

Good one!

[pepsi_junkie]

The shock wave travels much slower than the light from the same event. Notice when a bomb/fireworks/lightning goes off, the light from the event is seen before the shock wave/sound hits.

I dont think a shock wave is an issue here, in the conventional sense. That is, the expanding pressure wave and that flows out after an explosion. Given space is a vacuum and all that. However, some nasty radiation (cosmic rays) and electromagnetic mess would be a concern. But that does indeed travel at the speed of light. I think the armegeddon scenario is that the magnetoshpere gets blown away or disrupted by the elemstromagnetic pulse and then the cosmic rays flow in and cook us all. Pretty much at the same time as we notice the star explode via visible light.

But I think it's been established that there are no stars nearby that are anywhere near supernova state, and we'll have millions of years before that is ever a concern.

[spunkets]

"I dont think a shock wave is an issue here, in the conventional sense. That is, the expanding pressure wave and that flows out after an explosion. Given space is a vacuum and all that."

It is. It doesn't matter if space is a vacuum. Pressure waves consist of the original momentum itself moving through whatever. THe momentum in this case is carried by the exploding mass.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

We could say it. But athiests would deny the connection.LOL!

[Grizzled Bear]

On the surface this is very interesting. The problems is it leaves a very profound yet perplexing question.

What would be a cooler sounding name for a rock band - "Pillars of Creation" or "Stellar Blast?"

[roostercashews]

"Those aren't pillars!!!"

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...

/polite golf clap.

[Larry Lucido]

LOL! "Did you catch the Bears last weekend?" "Yep, hell of a game, hell of a game!"

[spunkets]

"Can you technically have "shock" or "sound" waves in space, without a medium for the waves to travel through?"

The Shock wave consists of the paticles that carry the momentum. In this case, there's just no dissipation to the surroundings, until something is hit.

"I mean, we all know that in space no one can hear you scream."

That's not true if one has there ear oriented to catch the scream, or the scream is deflected in. That would be the person's last breath though and any listener would probably get a blood splatter and hear a pop at the end of the quickly truncated scream.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

No doubt. Those dang galaxies don't even noticeably budge in their rotation unless you've got a few million years to spare. It would be neat to see a time-lapse video of their rotation.

[ModelBreaker]

For that matter, if a pillar falls in space and there's no one to hear it, does it still scream?

Yes.