Humpty Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 The universe just keeps bringing up astounding surprises for our astronomers! Using a variety of Earth and space telescopes, astronomers found a giant exploding star that they figure has shined about five times brighter than any of the hundreds of supernovae ever seen before, said discovery team leader Nathan Smith of the University of California at Berkeley. The discovery was first made last September by a graduate student in Texas. "This one is way above anything else," Smith told The Associated Press. "It's really astonishing." Smith said the star, SN2006gy, "is a special kind of supernova that has never been seen before." Observations from the Chandra X-ray telescope helped show that it didn't become a black hole like other supernovae and skipped a stage of star death. Unlike other exploding stars, which peak at brightness for a couple of weeks at most, this supernova, peaked for 70 days, according to NASA. And it has been shining at levels brighter than other supernovae for several months, Smith said. And even at 240 million light years away, this star in a distant galaxy does suggest that a similar and relatively nearby star - one 70.8 trillion kilometres away - might blow in similar fashion any day now or 50,000 years from now, Smith said. My hometown newspaper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tunerz Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 My guess is it's an ancient star with different build up comparing to new stars. Too bad they can't be seen in our country . Oh wait, only novas are available in where I live and actually saw one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted May 10, 2007 Moderators Share Posted May 10, 2007 This stuff is pretty fascinating, and it makes you feel kinda insignificant when you get a visual comparison to see how big these "big" stars really are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tunerz Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 Good thing we don't live in huge stars (not referring to dying stars like giants/supergiants)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1200 Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 could anyone show me how to create the sign thingy at the bottom of the user message?-The sign where it said Cleaner user, vista user, etc.... Nlite Tutorial, Wireless Security Tutorial Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators DennisD Posted May 10, 2007 Moderators Share Posted May 10, 2007 could anyone show me how to create the sign thingy at the bottom of the user message?-The sign where it said Cleaner user, vista user, etc.... I've never tried putting graphics in, but select "My Controls > Edit Signature", and then in my case I simply entered a link to a particular site. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CTskifreak Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 My biology teacher was talking about this today. She said something about if that star near us blew, it would be bright enough outside to read a book at night. That, or send out a lot of radiation - I thought the radiation was a little bit improbable, considering it is light years away...but you never know. In response to the signature question, I got my images from Userbars. I put them together by this website. Hope this helps... AJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted May 11, 2007 Moderators Share Posted May 11, 2007 That, or send out a lot of radiation - I thought the radiation was a little bit improbable, considering it is light years away...but you never know. I wouldn't exactly worry about radiation from something light years away myself because if there was any real threat at this distance something perhaps "could have already happened" due to all the stars in our galaxy. I would instead be more concerned at the mood our star the Sun is in since it poses a very near and practical threat should it decide to act up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted May 11, 2007 Moderators Share Posted May 11, 2007 This stuff is pretty fascinating, and it makes you feel kinda insignificant when you get a visual comparison to see how big these "big" stars really are. Indeed. The only thing that currently comes to mind is "it's like being a pimple on an elephants ass." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burtman Posted June 1, 2007 Share Posted June 1, 2007 Indeed. The only thing that currently comes to mind is "it's like being a pimple on an elephants ass." How about a pimple on that pimple ...? ... and even if you take it right back home ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Andavari Posted June 1, 2007 Moderators Share Posted June 1, 2007 ... and even if you take it right back home ... Interesting pic because I never realized or seen that Mars is approximately in-between the size of our moon and the Earth. For some reason I always thought Mars was bigger at least Earth size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
login123 Posted June 2, 2007 Share Posted June 2, 2007 Super find, Humpty. 'Nuther website here, has movies: (loads slowly, tho) http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2007/sn2006gy/ The CCleaner SLIM version is always released a bit after any new version; when it is it will be HERE :-) Pssssst: ... It isn't really a cloud. Its a bunch of big, giant servers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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