Principia Discordia

Principia Discordia => Techmology and Scientism => Topic started by: Luna on August 29, 2011, 10:57:54 PM

Title: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Luna on August 29, 2011, 10:57:54 PM
YouTube recording of what they're thinking is a star being destroyed by a black hole...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKdJllO8zH4&feature=player_embedded
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on August 30, 2011, 02:05:42 PM
Damn. That's a big flash.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Bruno on August 30, 2011, 08:15:42 PM
I hope nobody got hurt.   :eek:
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Doktor Howl on August 30, 2011, 08:33:26 PM
Nobody tell Babylon Horuv about this.  He'll fap til the fucking thing comes off.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Triple Zero on August 30, 2011, 08:46:29 PM
I'm CRYING because how TRAGIC this is :cry:
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Don Coyote on August 30, 2011, 08:46:53 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 30, 2011, 08:33:26 PM
Nobody tell Babylon Horuv about this.  He'll fap til the fucking thing comes off.

This is a problem how?
Headline
"Man found dead with mashed dick in hand"
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Bruno on August 30, 2011, 09:02:38 PM
How many lightyears away was this?

Could this be vintage snuff porn?
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Luna on August 30, 2011, 09:14:00 PM
Quote from: Jerry_Frankster on August 30, 2011, 09:02:38 PM
How many lightyears away was this?

Could this be vintage snuff porn?

4 billion light years away.  That's pretty vintage.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Epimetheus on August 31, 2011, 02:04:48 AM
Quote from: Donald Coyote on August 30, 2011, 08:46:53 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on August 30, 2011, 08:33:26 PM
Nobody tell Babylon Horuv about this.  He'll fap til the fucking thing comes off.

This is a problem how?
Headline
"Man found dead with mashed dick in hand"

Mashed dick! Served best with gravy!
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on August 31, 2011, 02:26:39 AM
Quote from: Triple Zero on August 30, 2011, 08:46:29 PM
I'm CRYING because how TRAGIC this is :cry:

:lulz:
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Triple Zero on August 31, 2011, 03:17:30 PM
It was a HISTORICAL star!!
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on August 31, 2011, 06:52:08 PM
I was gonna be all like: "X ray wavelength blah blah blah, binary system, yada yada yada, accretion disks and fusion, so on and so on" but I didn't want to kill the  :lulz:

You're welcome.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Triple Zero on August 31, 2011, 07:01:43 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on August 31, 2011, 06:52:08 PM
I was gonna be all like: "X ray wavelength blah blah blah, binary system, yada yada yada, accretion disks and fusion, so on and so on" but I didn't want to kill the  :lulz:

You're welcome.

You can see the star is all red and orange before it explodes, that means it's really far away because of all the red shift, right?

(again this is why my running pants and clothes are all red, so that people think I'm really farther away than I really am and then when it turns out that I'm in fact really close they're all like WTF HOW DID HE MOVE SO FAST :? and I'm all like 8) )
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on August 31, 2011, 07:38:32 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on August 31, 2011, 07:01:43 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on August 31, 2011, 06:52:08 PM
I was gonna be all like: "X ray wavelength blah blah blah, binary system, yada yada yada, accretion disks and fusion, so on and so on" but I didn't want to kill the  :lulz:

You're welcome.

You can see the star is all red and orange before it explodes, that means it's really far away because of all the red shift, right?

(again this is why my running pants and clothes are all red, so that people think I'm really farther away than I really am and then when it turns out that I'm in fact really close they're all like WTF HOW DID HE MOVE SO FAST :? and I'm all like 8) )

The front should be blue, so when they think you're blueshifting as you run towards theem
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Kai on September 01, 2011, 03:02:54 AM
Wow. Well, I knew the hypothesis that a massive object entering a black hole would be torn to pieces while burning up on the disk around the event horizon, releasing high energy radiation, but I had no idea it would look like THAT.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Cardinal Pizza Deliverance. on September 01, 2011, 03:47:33 AM
Wow. Thanks for sharing that, Luna.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Luna on September 01, 2011, 11:31:08 AM
Quote from: Cardinal Pizza Deliverance. on September 01, 2011, 03:47:33 AM
Wow. Thanks for sharing that, Luna.

Sure thing!
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 01, 2011, 04:47:26 PM
When a normal star orbits a neutron star at a close enough distance, mass from the normal star can be pulled away from it by the gravity of the super dense neutron star. This mass collects around the companion neutron star and forms an accretion disk. The accretion disk then circles the neutron star, it's mass being slowly pulled towards the surface by gravity. When clumps of mass reach a point close enough to the suface of the neutron star, it goes up in flash fusion, producing a high amount of X ray radiation. Binary systems like this are called X ray binaries.

X ray binaries have been observed before, but only X ray binaries with neutron star companions. But the theory was that, if it could happen with a neutron star, it should also be able to happen with the neutron stars big brother, the black hole.

As far as I know, this is the first observation of an X ray binary with a black hole. What you guys are seeing is NOT the black hole (if you do not know why we can't see a black hole, then maybe you should not be here) or the star it's consuming, but the X ray emmisions of the accretion disk burning up quickly as it approaches the "surface" of the black hole. People have used X rays to detect black holes before, but a black hole in an X ray binary is definitely a really nice catch.

Also, Trip: Twid's right. The front of your jump suit should be blue. Unless you only plan on running away from people. Speaking of redshift, look up gravitational redshifting at the event horizon of a black hole, and compare the view from the reference frame of outside the event horizon to the view from the reference frame of inside the event horizon. Relativity says "oh, yeah? Figure this shit out" when it deals with black holes.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 02, 2011, 07:16:21 AM
Dimo, it makes me hot when you're all smart like that.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Bruno on September 02, 2011, 09:55:34 AM
Dimocritus, How much damage would something like this do to the rest of the galaxy?

If it were to happen in this galaxy, would it make my nads hurt

or

:?
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Luna on September 02, 2011, 11:08:53 AM
Quote from: Nigel on September 02, 2011, 07:16:21 AM
Dimo, it makes me hot when you're all smart like that.

This.   :D
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Rumckle on September 02, 2011, 11:34:41 AM
Quote from: Jerry_Frankster on September 02, 2011, 09:55:34 AM
Dimocritus, How much damage would something like this do to the rest of the galaxy?

If it were to happen in this galaxy, would it make my nads hurt

or

:?

Well, if it were to happen in our galaxy, it would have to be pointed at us to effect us.
But we get hit by x-rays from pulsars in our galaxy, and are still alive, so I think we'd be ok. But Dimo may be able to clarify.

ETA: though I guess if it were blue shifted toward us we may be screwed.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 05:52:06 PM
Okay, here's the deal. Let's say that right now, at this moment, the entire mass of the sun was compressed into it's Schwarzschild radius (basically, the size it would have to shrink to, without losing mass, in order for it to be so dense that both electron and neutron degeneracy pressure fail, making it into a black hole).

We won't get "sucked" in. Hell, other than no more sunshine, we would feel nothing.

Gravity is a property of mass, and by turning our sun into a black hole we are only effecting size. Which means the gravitational effects on our solar system would be relatively unchanged, because if our sun, at 1Mo (Mo=Solar Mass) became a black hole, it would still be about 1Mo, dig?

The only place where you would see any significant changes (aside from, like I said, sunlight) would be within the Schwazschild radius, or equivalently, the event horizon (in that case, you wouldn't actually see anything.) which, in the case of the sun, we can figure it out: Rs=2GM/c^2 can be rewritten for objects of 1Mo or larger as: Rs=3xM/Mo km, where M is the mass of the object in solar masses (in our case the sun, 1Mo) and Mo is simply 1 solar mass. Our units are kilometers, and Rs stands for the Schwarzschild radius, or the event horizon. Let's plug in our numbers.

Rs=3x1Mo/1Mo km=3 km (our Mo units cancel, giving us an answer in km)

This means that, if our sun suddenly went black hole, it would have had to shrink down to a radius of 3km (compared to it's original radius: 696,000 km). At that point, gravity wins. The entire mass of the sun would be within it's own Schwarzschild radius, and collapse into a black hole. Just let me clarify, at this point the size of our new black hole would be unknown, because we cannot measure anything within then event horizon. We can only know its Rs, or radius of its event horizon.

Simply put, nothing outside of the 3km Rs would change, aside from sunlight, of course. Our solar system WOULD NOT toilet-bowl flush itself into oblivion, that simply is not the nature of a black hole.

As far as X ray radiation: X ray bursts from a black hole are the result of flash fusion around the "surface" of the black hole. So, the only way we would get bombarded with a super-high level of X rays (there would be an increase in X rays, but) is if the black hole were consuming enough of the right stuff to perform large bursts of fusion, which, like in Luna's link, it would need a companion star to do enough "damage" in the way of X rays. And, I don't have to tell you this, our sun does not have a companion star, therefore the X ray radiation should be "livable."

Again, the only SIGNIFICANT (not negligible) difference would be the sudden lack of sunlight.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 05:55:25 PM
Also relevant: EVERY GALAXY HAS A SUPER-MASSIVE BLACK HOLE AT IT'S CENTER. PERIOD. (and that's not to mention all the smaller black holes floating about, but after reading the above, you should realize that it's not THAT scary of a thing)
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 06:01:42 PM
clarification: The above is just an example. Our sun will never become a black hole, it's too small. It will, instead, become a white dwarf when it eventually goes super-nova.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on September 02, 2011, 06:50:38 PM
Correction. Sol does not have enough mass to supernova. It will swell into a red giant and then shrink into a white dwarf. Meanwhile red dwarves will remain unchanged in that time frame.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 02, 2011, 06:53:14 PM
Which is way, way near the top of the list of "things we really don't have to worry about".
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on September 02, 2011, 06:55:52 PM
Yep. Earth should be habitable for at least another billion years. A couple of large extinction events will pop up but maybe we'll have spread out into space to have a couple of offshoot decendant species by then.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 06:57:40 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 06:50:38 PM
Correction. Sol does not have enough mass to supernova. It will swell into a red giant and then shrink into a white dwarf. Meanwhile red dwarves will remain unchanged in that time frame.

This is correct. I was actually just fact checking my previous posts from the text book and was going to post a correction.

Your reaction time is impeccable.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on September 02, 2011, 07:01:29 PM
Just caught it at the right time. My bus is late as fuck and now i might have to fight a crowd to get on.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 07:15:27 PM
The reason I used the term supernova in the first place was because I couldn't think of the name of the process with which a low mass star expels its outer layers. Turns out there's no cool term for it, its just a series of thermal pulses.

Also:
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 06:50:38 PM
It will swell into a red giant and then shrink into a white dwarf.

also, there are two seperate red giant phases with a helium burning phase in between. But I guess now I'm getting a but pedantic.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on September 02, 2011, 07:18:35 PM
Ah you are right. Forgot about that. Stellar evolution is cool.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 07:38:58 PM
Indeed, though I have a tendancy to be more interested in stellar corpses, like white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes, and even then, I have a tendancy to prefer the latter high-mass varieties in particular.

On topic side-rant: The term "pulsar" pisses me off. A pulsar is just a neutron star "pointed" towards the Earth. Like, a laser-pointer is called a laser-pointer regardless of what direction it's pointing in, right? A neutron star is a neutron star. Fuck a fucking "pulsar." It's sort of an antiquated term from before they realized "pulsars" are just neutron stars "pointed" at us. I hate it. But then again, it's probably just me.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on September 02, 2011, 07:53:58 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 07:38:58 PM
Indeed, though I have a tendancy to be more interested in stellar corpses, like white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes, and even then, I have a tendancy to prefer the latter high-mass varieties in particular.

On topic side-rant: The term "pulsar" pisses me off. A pulsar is just a neutron star "pointed" towards the Earth. Like, a laser-pointer is called a laser-pointer regardless of what direction it's pointing in, right? A neutron star is a neutron star. Fuck a fucking "pulsar." It's sort of an antiquated term from before they realized "pulsars" are just neutron stars "pointed" at us. I hate it. But then again, it's probably just me.

True. I'm sure there's still some useful technical reason for calling them pulsars though. Otherwise they would have given them the Pluto treatment already.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Doktor Howl on September 02, 2011, 07:55:15 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 07:38:58 PM
Indeed, though I have a tendancy to be more interested in stellar corpses, like white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes, and even then, I have a tendancy to prefer the latter high-mass varieties in particular.

On topic side-rant: The term "pulsar" pisses me off. A pulsar is just a neutron star "pointed" towards the Earth. Like, a laser-pointer is called a laser-pointer regardless of what direction it's pointing in, right? A neutron star is a neutron star. Fuck a fucking "pulsar." It's sort of an antiquated term from before they realized "pulsars" are just neutron stars "pointed" at us. I hate it. But then again, it's probably just me.

It's just you.

Dok,
Likes anything with a name like "pulsar", and thinks Ron Jeremy should have made a movie about it.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: LMNO on September 02, 2011, 07:57:02 PM
"Barely Legal Pulsars 7"?
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on September 02, 2011, 07:57:15 PM
Side note- I dig red dwarves due to their long lives. At first I thought that colonizing yellow dwarf systems were our best target, but for staying power, it's all about the red dwarves. Red dwarves alive now will still be around now will last until all of the Sun type stars have died and stopped forming. There is the problem with tidal locking in the habitable zone though.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on September 02, 2011, 07:57:36 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 02, 2011, 07:57:02 PM
"Barely Legal Pulsars 7"?

Pulsars are the equivalent of stellar granny porn.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Doktor Howl on September 02, 2011, 07:57:54 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 07:57:15 PM
Side note- I dig red dwarves due to their long lives. At first I thought that colonizing yellow dwarf systems were our best target, but for staying power, it's all about the red dwarves. Red dwarves alive now will still be around now will last until all of the Sun type stars have died and stopped forming. There is the problem with tidal locking in the habitable zone though.

Might be a LITTLE too much planning ahead, there.

Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 07:58:58 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on September 02, 2011, 07:55:15 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 07:38:58 PM
Indeed, though I have a tendancy to be more interested in stellar corpses, like white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes, and even then, I have a tendancy to prefer the latter high-mass varieties in particular.

On topic side-rant: The term "pulsar" pisses me off. A pulsar is just a neutron star "pointed" towards the Earth. Like, a laser-pointer is called a laser-pointer regardless of what direction it's pointing in, right? A neutron star is a neutron star. Fuck a fucking "pulsar." It's sort of an antiquated term from before they realized "pulsars" are just neutron stars "pointed" at us. I hate it. But then again, it's probably just me.

It's just you.

Dok,
Likes anything with a name like "pulsar", and thinks Ron Jeremy should have made a movie about it.

Haha, good point! It would bother me less if we could just use one term for it, and "pulsar" sounds way cooler than "neutron star," especially in this context:
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 02, 2011, 07:57:02 PM
"Barely Legal Pulsars 7"?
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on September 02, 2011, 07:59:31 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on September 02, 2011, 07:57:54 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 07:57:15 PM
Side note- I dig red dwarves due to their long lives. At first I thought that colonizing yellow dwarf systems were our best target, but for staying power, it's all about the red dwarves. Red dwarves alive now will still be around now will last until all of the Sun type stars have died and stopped forming. There is the problem with tidal locking in the habitable zone though.

Might be a LITTLE too much planning ahead, there.



It's only to make up for humanity's short-sightedness.  :)
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 08:00:20 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 07:57:36 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 02, 2011, 07:57:02 PM
"Barely Legal Pulsars 7"?

Pulsars are the equivalent of stellar granny porn.

:lulz: :lulz: :lulz: It's funny cuz it's true!!
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on September 02, 2011, 08:00:53 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 08:00:20 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 07:57:36 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on September 02, 2011, 07:57:02 PM
"Barely Legal Pulsars 7"?

Pulsars are the equivalent of stellar granny porn.

:lulz: :lulz: :lulz: It's funny cuz it's true!!

:lulz:
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 08:18:23 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 07:57:15 PM
Side note- I dig red dwarves due to their long lives. At first I thought that colonizing yellow dwarf systems were our best target, but for staying power, it's all about the red dwarves. Red dwarves alive now will still be around now will last until all of the Sun type stars have died and stopped forming. There is the problem with tidal locking in the habitable zone though.

This spurs another side rant: The term "red dwarf" also pisses me off. It's just a small main sequence star. It's nothing like a white dwarf or a brown dwarf, which are dead of failed stars, respectively. It's just a regular M class star. But again, probably just me.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Doktor Howl on September 02, 2011, 08:19:30 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 08:18:23 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 07:57:15 PM
Side note- I dig red dwarves due to their long lives. At first I thought that colonizing yellow dwarf systems were our best target, but for staying power, it's all about the red dwarves. Red dwarves alive now will still be around now will last until all of the Sun type stars have died and stopped forming. There is the problem with tidal locking in the habitable zone though.

This spurs another side rant: The term "red dwarf" also pisses me off. It's just a small main sequence star. It's nothing like a white dwarf or a brown dwarf, which are dead of failed stars, respectively. It's just a regular M class star. But again, probably just me.

BUCOLIC MIDGET
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on September 02, 2011, 08:22:30 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 08:18:23 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 07:57:15 PM
Side note- I dig red dwarves due to their long lives. At first I thought that colonizing yellow dwarf systems were our best target, but for staying power, it's all about the red dwarves. Red dwarves alive now will still be around now will last until all of the Sun type stars have died and stopped forming. There is the problem with tidal locking in the habitable zone though.

This spurs another side rant: The term "red dwarf" also pisses me off. It's just a small main sequence star. It's nothing like a white dwarf or a brown dwarf, which are dead of failed stars, respectively. It's just a regular M class star. But again, probably just me.

I see your point. I think that the term was just chosen for relative size. Personally, if we were to define terms like that, I would prefer dwarf for the main sequence stars, to match giants and supergiants, and call a white dwarf a white remnant and a brown dwarf a brown protostar.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Doktor Howl on September 02, 2011, 08:23:18 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 08:22:30 PM
and call a white dwarf a white remnant

David Duke Star?
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Nephew Twiddleton on September 02, 2011, 08:29:14 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on September 02, 2011, 08:23:18 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 08:22:30 PM
and call a white dwarf a white remnant

David Duke Star?

Cum stain star?
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 09:10:07 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 08:22:30 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 08:18:23 PM
Quote from: Nph. Twid. on September 02, 2011, 07:57:15 PM
Side note- I dig red dwarves due to their long lives. At first I thought that colonizing yellow dwarf systems were our best target, but for staying power, it's all about the red dwarves. Red dwarves alive now will still be around now will last until all of the Sun type stars have died and stopped forming. There is the problem with tidal locking in the habitable zone though.

This spurs another side rant: The term "red dwarf" also pisses me off. It's just a small main sequence star. It's nothing like a white dwarf or a brown dwarf, which are dead of failed stars, respectively. It's just a regular M class star. But again, probably just me.

I see your point. I think that the term was just chosen for relative size. Personally, if we were to define terms like that, I would prefer dwarf for the main sequence stars, to match giants and supergiants, and call a white dwarf a white remnant and a brown dwarf a brown protostar.

Lets get rid of the term dwarf entirely, I say. To call all main sequence stars dwarfs is misleading, because they range in mass from 0.1Mo to 60Mo and in size from 0.1 solar radii to 10 solar radii. Dwarf is relative. Lets identify each main sequence star according to their class (O, B, A, F, G, K and M.)

White dwarfs, low-mass stellar corpses, should be called "electron stars" (because electron degeneracy pressure is the only thing preventing further collapse) like a higher-mass stellar corpse is called a "neutron star" (because neutron degeneracy pressure is the only thing preventing further collapse).

Brown dwarfs should be called Gary Coleman.

On account of him being a failed star, of course. What did you think I meant?
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Doktor Howl on September 02, 2011, 09:10:56 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 09:10:07 PM
Lets get rid of the term dwarf entirely, I say.

Yes.  It's demeaning.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 10:52:18 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on September 02, 2011, 09:10:56 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 09:10:07 PM
Lets get rid of the term dwarf entirely, I say.

Yes.  It's demeaning.

We need to be more universally sensative. We wouldn't want to offend a human being by describing a non human object.

Also, quoted for posterity:

Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 09:10:07 PM
Brown dwarfs should be called Gary Coleman.

On account of him being a failed star, of course. What did you think I meant?
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on September 02, 2011, 10:52:34 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on September 02, 2011, 09:10:56 PM
Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 09:10:07 PM
Lets get rid of the term dwarf entirely, I say.

Yes.  It's demeaning.

They prefer "Little Star".

ALSO, OMG WHAT

QuoteA white dwarf, also called a degenerate dwarf, is a small star composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_dwarf
:lulz:
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Triple Zero on September 05, 2011, 11:25:08 AM
Quote from: Dimocritus on September 02, 2011, 07:38:58 PMOn topic side-rant: The term "pulsar" pisses me off. A pulsar is just a neutron star "pointed" towards the Earth. Like, a laser-pointer is called a laser-pointer regardless of what direction it's pointing in, right? A neutron star is a neutron star. Fuck a fucking "pulsar." It's sort of an antiquated term from before they realized "pulsars" are just neutron stars "pointed" at us. I hate it. But then again, it's probably just me.

No. If it's pointed just anywhere it's called "a laser pointer". If it's pointed at me it's called "asking for trouble". If it's pointed at a cinema screen it's called "being a cunt".

Seriously though, would it make you feel better if you think of a "neutron star" as the actual object that is (most probably, cause you can't actually go there and check it out) floating in space zillions of kilometers away, and a "pulsar" as a feature of the observed space sky hemisphere?

Kind of like how star constellations aren't really "real" except for when they're projected at our particular 2D hemisphere, except slightly more sciencey.

BTW that's one thing that annoys me: most astronomy students I know can't for the life of them point out any star constellations except maybe the Big Dipper (Ursa Major/Grote Beer). I mean, fuck, even I can point you at Orion and the Pleiades (not sure if you got the same ones on your continent btw? Orion and the Big Dipper are always visible here).
I guess it's not "hip" because it's too much like astrology and baaaaw. But you can use that shit to NAVIGATE. Plus it looks pretty. And you can impress girls with it.

Or the moon, can you tell if it's waxing or waning? (if it's shaped like a < it's getting smaller and a > means it's getting bigger--see it even uses science notations!)
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Luna on September 05, 2011, 11:29:09 PM
Hey, Dimo, check it out:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/02/scitech/main20101040.shtml?tag=newsvine

QuoteFor the first time scientists have imaged a pair of black holes found in a spiral galaxy very much like our own Milky Way. Equally important, this also constitutes the nearest known pair of supermassive black holes to Earth identified to date.
The discovery was made in a spiral galaxy codenamed NGC 3393, which is an estimated 160 million light years away from Earth. The pair are believed to represent the remains of what astronomers described as a merger between two galaxies of unequal mass more than a billion years ago.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 06, 2011, 03:08:54 PM
Quote from: Triple Zero on September 05, 2011, 11:25:08 AM
No. If it's pointed just anywhere it's called "a laser pointer". If it's pointed at me it's called "asking for trouble". If it's pointed at a cinema screen it's called "being a cunt".

Seriously though, would it make you feel better if you think of a "neutron star" as the actual object that is (most probably, cause you can't actually go there and check it out) floating in space zillions of kilometers away, and a "pulsar" as a feature of the observed space sky hemisphere?

Kind of like how star constellations aren't really "real" except for when they're projected at our particular 2D hemisphere, except slightly more sciencey.

I see what you're saying, I was just being difficult.

Quote from: Triple Zero on September 05, 2011, 11:25:08 AM
BTW that's one thing that annoys me: most astronomy students I know can't for the life of them point out any star constellations except maybe the Big Dipper (Ursa Major/Grote Beer). I mean, fuck, even I can point you at Orion and the Pleiades (not sure if you got the same ones on your continent btw? Orion and the Big Dipper are always visible here).
I guess it's not "hip" because it's too much like astrology and baaaaw. But you can use that shit to NAVIGATE. Plus it looks pretty. And you can impress girls with it.

Or the moon, can you tell if it's waxing or waning? (if it's shaped like a < it's getting smaller and a > means it's getting bigger--see it even uses science notations!)

I can Identify a handful of constellations, Orion, Big dipper, Cassiopia, Leo, Taurus, some others. Constellations, depite them not being real, have a use. Each constellation is like the border of a "country" in the sky, and knowing which "country" an object is in is the first step in observing said object. Personally, it's not that exciting to me, because most of what I am interested in isn't readily observable by the naked eye. But again, mostly in agreement here.

Quote from: Luna on September 05, 2011, 11:29:09 PM
Hey, Dimo, check it out:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/09/02/scitech/main20101040.shtml?tag=newsvine

Yeah, I was reading about this, however, a related article caught my attention. Remember when I said that black holes are "relatively harmless?" Well, it turns out that if two galaxies of the same or similar size collide, the super-massive black holes at their centers, under the right conditions, can merge and launch the new combined black hole out of the galaxy. First, reaching the escape velocity of a galaxy is pretty amazing on its own, but once these high-velocity, super-massive black holes burn off all the gasses around them, there would be no way to detect it. Black holes don't kill people, high velocity super-massive black holes kill people.

Give me a minute, I'll see if i can find the link.
Title: Re: NASA records the death of a star
Post by: Dimocritus on September 06, 2011, 03:23:36 PM
The prediction. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/05/070529155041.htm)

Possible observation. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100510075523.htm)

Black holes careening about at 2,500 miles a second? Well, good luck Future Earth, not even Bruce Willis can save you from that.