Scientists Discover Giant Planet With Largest Orbit Ever

[Strazdas]

supernovas are pussies

Now correct me if im wrong, but wouldnt the energy waves coming out of supernova "poles" be able to instantly incinera our planet if we were so unlucky to be in their way?
I mean their energy is powerful enough to destroy stars.

Ah, then we're talking about Gamma Ray Bursts (GRB's), which are a different beast altogether. GRB's are the single most powerful astronomical event we know (well, apart from the Big Bang, that is). I mean, we can easily detect them from different galaxies millions or even billions of lightyears away (one in 2008 was 8 billion lightyears away and visible to the naked eye). Supernovae really are pussies by comparison, there's a reason these GRB's are also called hypernovae. They occur when a very heavy star turns into a black hole or when a black hole is actively 'feeding'. That sends twin beams of high-energy radiation and particles into space at high speed. Interstellar flamethrowers.

A supernova is mostly harmless at more than 25-50 lightyears away (depending on the size). A GRB aimed at us from 100 lightyears would be roughly equivalent to detonating a one-megaton bomb on every square mile of the surface facing the blast. Still not enough to completely rip away the atmosphere, but not very pleasant all the same.

Still, the closest star to us that could turn into a black hole is Eta Carinae at 7500 lightyears away. And the orientation of that system is such that if it does go hypernova, the GRB will probably miss us. But if it did hit us, we'd be fucked. The EMP of such a blast would take out half the world's electronics and gamma rays would break apart much of the ozone layer, potentially destroying the base of the food chain and it might start an ice age on top of that. Oh, and let's not forget to mention all the free-moving muons killing everyone not hiding under a mile of rock. Human tissue does not like muons.

Ah, now thats more the story i like, total destruction for everyone Thanks for explaining this more

Capcha: over there. well better over there than over here if we talk about hypernova.

 

[Albino Boo]

If a star went of bang 50 light years away from Earth, the amount energy released would large enough to boil the atmosphere off almost instantly.

Nah, it has to be much closer. A typical supernova (20 solar masses) explosion at 10 lightyears would 'only' bombard Earth with about 40 million tons of matter. That's less than a quarter kg/m^2. Hardly extinction level. Earth has been hit by heavier asteroids and survived.

And for the radiation to heat up the Earth as much as the Sun does now it'd have to be as close as a lightyear away. There's not a single star that close, let alone one that can go supernova. For the neutrinoflux to instantly kill you a supernova would have to be as close as the Sun. For a supernova farther away than 30 lightyears it wouldn't have a measurable effect.

The only problem would be gamma radiation and X-rays. If you happen to be in space when they hit, you're screwed. Also, the ozone layer might take a big hit, but if it's father away than 20-30 lightyears, we're safe. We have a nice friendly atmosphere stopping most of it.

Luckily there's only about two dozen potential supernovae nearer than 1000 lightyears from us, I think. And the closest (Spica) at 260 light years.

Supernovae are scary, but the universe is a big place, thankfully.

Its the radiated energy that will boil of the atmosphere at 50 light years not any mass collisions. The estimated energy output of a supernova is greater than the entire energy output of the Sun in a year. The arrival of that amount energy in a few seconds is more than sufficient to excite the gases of earth atmosphere beyond escape velocity of Earths gravity.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Its the radiated energy that will boil of the atmosphere at 50 light years not any mass collisions. The estimated energy output of a supernova is greater than the entire energy output of the Sun in a year. The arrival of that amount energy in a few seconds is more than sufficient to excite the gases of earth atmosphere beyond escape velocity of Earths gravity.

It's not nearly enough to do that. The stratosphere might take a hit from gamma radiation and X-rays and the ozone layer might be marginally affected, but at that distance it won't be much more. A supernova is a huge blast of energy, but it's spread out over the entire celestial globe. At that distance, only a tiny fragment gets to the Earth.

If, say, Spica would explode, the explosion would be as bright as the full Moon. Quite bright, but still just a lightsource in the sky and the heat radiating from it would consequently be similar to that of the Moon: very little, and certainly not enough to excite the atmosphere in any meaningful way. It might disrupt some animal cycles tied to the Moon, as the light would remain for several months, but eventually it would die down.

A supernova at 50 lightyears would be quite a bit brighter, but it wouldn't come close to rivalling the Sun, for instance. You don't see the Sun ripping away our atmosphere with its radiation. For a supernova to blast away our atmosphere it'd have to practically occur on our doorstep.

By contrast, a Gamma Ray Burst can generate as much energy as the Sun puts out during its entire 10 billion year lifespan in a couple of seconds, and that's focused in tight beams. That would do serious damage at such a distance. A typical supernova really wouldn't.

 

[Albino Boo]

Its the radiated energy that will boil of the atmosphere at 50 light years not any mass collisions. The estimated energy output of a supernova is greater than the entire energy output of the Sun in a year. The arrival of that amount energy in a few seconds is more than sufficient to excite the gases of earth atmosphere beyond escape velocity of Earths gravity.

It's not nearly enough to do that. The stratosphere might take a hit from gamma radiation and X-rays and the ozone layer might be marginally affected, but at that distance it won't be much more. A supernova is a huge blast of energy, but it's spread out over the entire celestial globe. At that distance, only a tiny fragment gets to the Earth.

If, say, Spica would explode, the explosion would be as bright as the full Moon. Quite bright, but still just a lightsource in the sky and the heat radiating from it would consequently be similar to that of the Moon: very little, and certainly not enough to excite the atmosphere in any meaningful way. It might disrupt some animal cycles tied to the Moon, as the light would remain for several months, but eventually it would die down.

A supernova at 50 lightyears would be quite a bit brighter, but it wouldn't come close to rivalling the Sun, for instance. You don't see the Sun ripping away our atmosphere with its radiation. For a supernova to blast away our atmosphere it'd have to practically occur on our doorstep.

By contrast, a Gamma Ray Burst can generate as much energy as the Sun puts out during its entire 10 billion year lifespan in a couple of seconds, and that's focused in tight beams. That would do serious damage at such a distance. A typical supernova really wouldn't.

There is unit of energy known at the Foe which equal to the energy output of the a supernova. The sun in its entire lifetime will only produce 1.2 Foe. To put it another way the annual output of the Sun is 1.2×10[sup]34[/sup] J, the output of supernova is 1-2 x10[sup]44[/sup] or 100000000000 lager. Even if the distance of 50 lightyears reduces the received energy by 1x [sup]10[/sup] thats still the entire out annual output of the Sun arriving in 2-5 seconds. I do not think you are seriously trying to suggest that would have minor effects on the atmosphere.

 

[GundamSentinel]

There is unit of energy known at the Foe which equal to the energy output of the a supernova. The sun in its entire lifetime will only produce 1.2 Foe. To put it another way the annual output of the Sun is 1.2×10[sup]34[/sup] J, the output of supernova is 1-2 x10[sup]44[/sup] or 100000000000 lager. Even if the distance of 50 lightyears reduces the received energy by 1x [sup]10[/sup] thats still the entire out annual output of the Sun arriving in 2-5 seconds. I do not think you are seriously trying to suggest that would have minor effects on the atmosphere.

It's true, that's a lot of energy, but most of that energy would arrive as gamma radiation and X-rays and the atmosphere is pretty good at absorbing that. It's the reason people only discovered stars emit them when there was a space program. As I said, astronauts are fucked, the rest of us aren't. Plus, a large chunk gets absorbed by the remnants of the supernova itself.

The ozone layer will take a hit from it, but nothing that wouldn't recover. A supernova would have to be closer than 25-30 lightyears (different models, different answers, but this seems to be the general consensus) from Earth for it to get into trouble (would mean up to 50% ozone depletion). EMP burst? Maybe, but I'd hardly call that an extinction event.

So yeah, more skin cancer, but life will go on. Let's not forget, Earth has been hit by these things before (and probably even gamma ray bursts) and we're still here.

Edit: on top of that, we owe our very existence to supernovae. Without supernovae, no heavy elements. Our blood is red because of the iron created in a supernova. I've always liked that thought.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

If my very quick math is correct, this planet takes 3,570.45 Earth years to complete one orbit of its star.

It'd suck living there. You'd have been dead about three and a half millenia and seen almost a hundred and twenty generations go by before you even got to your first birthday!

And imagine how huge the calendars must be....

 

[The Great JT]

Well, I know SOME planet that's going on a diet!

 

[Specter Von Baren]

supernovas are pussies

Now correct me if im wrong, but wouldnt the energy waves coming out of supernova "poles" be able to instantly incinera our planet if we were so unlucky to be in their way?
I mean their energy is powerful enough to destroy stars.

Ah, then we're talking about Gamma Ray Bursts (GRB's), which are a different beast altogether. GRB's are the single most powerful astronomical event we know (well, apart from the Big Bang, that is). I mean, we can easily detect them from different galaxies millions or even billions of lightyears away (one in 2008 was 8 billion lightyears away and visible to the naked eye). Supernovae really are pussies by comparison, there's a reason these GRB's are also called hypernovae. They occur when a very heavy star turns into a black hole or when a black hole is actively 'feeding'. That sends twin beams of high-energy radiation and particles into space at high speed. Interstellar flamethrowers.

A supernova is mostly harmless at more than 25-50 lightyears away (depending on the size). A GRB aimed at us from 100 lightyears would be roughly equivalent to detonating a one-megaton bomb on every square mile of the surface facing the blast. Still not enough to completely rip away the atmosphere, but not very pleasant all the same.

Still, the closest star to us that could turn into a black hole is Eta Carinae at 7500 lightyears away. And the orientation of that system is such that if it does go hypernova, the GRB will probably miss us. But if it did hit us, we'd be fucked. The EMP of such a blast would take out half the world's electronics and gamma rays would break apart much of the ozone layer, potentially destroying the base of the food chain and it might start an ice age on top of that. Oh, and let's not forget to mention all the free-moving muons killing everyone not hiding under a mile of rock. Human tissue does not like muons.

;_; And I remember so fondly my days in school when learning about space was fun and interesting as apposed to depressing and horrifying.

 

[GundamSentinel]

;_; And I remember so fondly my days in school when learning about space was fun and interesting as apposed to depressing and horrifying.

Well, on the positive side, after billions of years of cosmic bombardment by meteors, comets, solar flares, supernovae, cosmic rays, intergalactic radiation and whatnot, we're still here and doing fine.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

;_; And I remember so fondly my days in school when learning about space was fun and interesting as apposed to depressing and horrifying.

Well, on the positive side, after billions of years of cosmic bombardment by meteors, comets, solar flares, supernovae, cosmic rays, intergalactic radiation and whatnot, we're still here and doing fine.

Do you happen to have any other interesting knowledge of space?

 

[GundamSentinel]

;_; And I remember so fondly my days in school when learning about space was fun and interesting as apposed to depressing and horrifying.

Well, on the positive side, after billions of years of cosmic bombardment by meteors, comets, solar flares, supernovae, cosmic rays, intergalactic radiation and whatnot, we're still here and doing fine.

Do you happen to have any other interesting knowledge of space?

I'd suggest looking up Bad Astronomy. Phil Plait always has some great insights about the cosmos.

There's one I really like about Black Holes:

People always think of black holes as things with incredible mass and enormous density and generally that's the case. But the weird thing about black holes that if you double their mass, their radius doubles as well. This means the bigger it gets, the lower its density becomes. So if you smash two black holes of similar size together, the density of the combined black hole is half that of the original ones.

This has some very weird consequences. If you had a black hole with a radius the size of the orbit of Neptune, it would have the density of air. So, if you got a sphere the size of the solar system and you filled it with air, you'd have a black hole that no light could escape from. Wut.