"Death Star" pointing at Earth


	"Death Star" pointing at Earth

willhelm

3-6-2008 8:59 PM

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3-7-2008 11:25 AM

Rustee

Heh...I just made a somewhat similar clip myself, though of a different star system.

3-7-2008 2:17 PM

willhelm

I know .. I just saw your clip and was coming to link this one to yours. Looks like we are at the mercy of nature. LOL.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/a02fe17c-31e1-4d42-ba1a-d2cb2f62e40d/7DFBF556-1087-4EBD-9572-AAF60C53E735/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080306/full/news.2008.653.html" href="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080306/full/news.2008.653.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.nature.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080306/full/news.2008.653.html">Astronomers have spotted a binary star system that could collapse to produce a massive gamma-ray burst at any point during the next few hundred thousand years — and it is pointing at Earth.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080306/full/news.2008.653.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.nature.com/img/F644A852-EA31-4CD3-AA5E-F681CC2B06A4" alt="The clear dust spiral shows that a beam from this star would be aimed at Earth." /></div></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080306/full/news.2008.653.html"> Earth looks down the axis of the system. “It is pointing at us within a range of about 0–16º,” says Tuthill, who estimates it is most likely 12º off-centre.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080306/full/news.2008.653.html">The massive stars are certain to explode, and soon, astronomically speaking.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080306/full/news.2008.653.html"><P>It is unclear how direct the burst would have to be to have an effect, says Tuthill. It has been variously postulated that a burst angle of 2–20º might put us outside the danger zone, but Tuthill says that even a miss of 12º would be dangerous for life on Earth. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080306/full/news.2008.653.html"><P>A gamma-ray beam might not kill us all immediately. First there would be a bright flash, possibly blinding people, says Melott, then after a few hours the effects would begin in earnest. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080306/full/news.2008.653.html">It should explode as a supernova within a few hundred thousand years.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080306/full/news.2008.653.html"><P class="end-note"><A href="http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~gekko/pinwheel.html">Watch a video of the spinning star system.</A></P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/7DFBF556-1087-4EBD-9572-AAF60C53E735/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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