Deadly Gamma Ray Burst headed our way from Rogue star , Could wipe out 1/4 of our ozo
 

Potentially lethal gamma-ray burst from star WR 104 could reach earth
Published May 28, 2013

Earth may lie in the path of a dangerous gamma-ray burst that could wipe out a quarter of our atmospheric ozone.

Astronomers say WR 104, a Wolf-Rayet star about 8,000 light years away, could go supernova any day, which would generate gamma-rays that could reach earth.


'You would first notice a 10-second blue flash in the upper atmosphere, but then the damage would be done.'
- University of Kansas physicist Adrian Melott

"We could see it go supernova anywhere from tomorrow to 500,000 years from now," astronomer Grant Hill told Forbes. "For all intents and purposes, the gamma-ray burst and optical photons from the supernova would arrive simultaneously."Gamma-ray bursts are triggered by supernovae, or exploding stars.

There has been much debate over whether a gamma-ray burst from WR 104 would reach earth, but Dr Hill said it depended on the star's rotation.

"If you look at WR 104 and the image of its pinwheel, it really is a visceral and powerful argument that the thing is face on with an inclination of zero," Dr Hill said. This would mean earth was directly in the line of fire from the star.

University of Kansas physicist Adrian Melott told Forbes such a gamma-ray burst would cause a 50 percent increase in UVB radiation.
"You would first notice a 10-second blue flash in the upper atmosphere, but then the damage would be done," he said.

WR 104 was discovered by University of Sydney astronomer Peter Tuthill in 1998.





We are gonna be totally toasted . I wouldn't plan on it happening in 500,000 years . You should go underground NOW !

If it aint one thing it's another.

Ban rogue stars.

Oklahoma is officially done.

Sure glad we banned CFCs since an interstellar fart can wipe out more ozone than all the Aquanet in Jersey could ever hope to.

Wolf Rayet? sounds like a Raider

I agree. My life has been irreversibly damaged by the banning of CFCs. Now this.

Hulk worried.

Aww man, I really want a zombie apocalypse. I just bought a bad ass samurai sword.

Given that they are quoting University of Kansas physicists, it's likely that this report is overrated.

Calm down, KU fans, it's just a joke.

That's one way for the Royals' bats to heat up

Not our ozo!

It probably already has.

Game over man! Game over!

We would have seen it. Duh.

Can we some how find a way to concentrate the burst towards Florida?

" tomorrow to 500,000 years from now"

oh

so did it hit while he was typing the thread title? does this mean it's over, because that -

Pretty sure that physicist in the OP is quoting Overkill lyrics.

I thought he retired the other day.

A 10 second blue flash...I think I'll duck for cover after 7. :thumb:

We should look to immediately start building up the CO2 in our atmosphere as a protective layer for when we lose the rest of the ozone!

So really he's talking about the near future. Make plans for the apocalypse now MUTHA****AS.

See...this is where those biblical doom prophets (Harold Camping?) go wrong.......they always give an exact date.

I mean, c'mon.....with 500,000 years as your window of opportunity.......people will really have to go the extra mile to call you out if it doesnt happen!

Too vague to discredit, but precise enough to apply for government funding. Who says our educational system doesn't produce smart people?

I believe it is "for all intensive purposes"

I ****ing LOLLED over this comment. :LOL::LOL:

Also, was I the only satirical, sarcastic asshole who read the first paragraph thinking "There isn't a Star WR wearing Jersey #104"? Perhaps I just miss football season lol.

Can we get that Dave scientist guy in here? I don't know much about science, but how fast do gamma rays and optical photons travel? Faster than the speed of light? Cause the planet is 8,000 light years away.

No, they don't travel faster than the speed of light, for a couple of reasons.

1. NOTHING travels faster than the speed of light.
2. Optical Photons ARE light.

Gamma Rays travel at the speed of light. If the star (not planet) went supernova 8,000 years ago, then we actually could see it happen tomorrow, and the gamma rays would arrive at the same time.

So it's certainly possible that this could happen soon enough to matter to anybody, but given the upper limit of 500,000 years for it to happen, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Jamaal Charles travels faster than the speed of light. Not by much, but he does.

Are you saying Jamaal Charles is NOTHING?

http://ts3.mm.bing.net/th?id=H.47194...40966&pid=15.1

She will be excited.

Ted Danson still trying the blackface bit I see.

That, or a turd put on a wig.

WTF happened to the healthy glow in her skin?

Christ, I have belts that have better skin complexion than that rawhide strap.

Mr. Hanky the Christmas poo...

****ing global warming...DAMMIT!

In the realm of, "There's not a damn thing we can do but enjoy the fluorescent blue light show" I'll shrug this one off and hope the thing took longer to go super nova than the number of years I have left to live. I'm also buying stock in as much sun screen tomorrow as is humanly possible. Get oh the boat (yeah) Banana Boat (yeah) ...

Can't we build some kind of big ass umbrella? Put it in orbit and shield the earth? We have between 1 day and 500,000 years to figure this out...come on people!!

Insert "It is going to hit Uranus" joke.

Is that Mammy Miami? LMAO

That was my first thought, we ****ing gave up R12 for this?

Could you be more specific? "anywhere from tomorrow to 500,000 years from now"

That is one heck of a percentage of error. Give or take 500k years.

Honestly, in 10,000 years we will have wiped ourselves out so not much to be concerned about.

Ban Aquanet pimps & logic haters.

First thing I thought of too! Damn comic geek.

Pay attention...it takes 8,000 years for the gamma rays and optical photons (light) to get to earth. 104 could have gone supernova 7,999 years ago. So tomorrow everyone dies. Get it...?

Apparently he didn't or he wouldn't need Dave's help.

So that grade 8 sun tan lotion will not work anymore if this happens, hope it can wait until after this summer, because I have a half a bottle left.

:facepalm:

We look into the past.

No it is not. "intensive purposes" is a common malapropism. It is "for all intents and purposes" You only have to look at the words in the context of what they are supposed to mean to know which one is right and which one makes no sense at all.

Everyone who says "for all intensive purposes" is wrong.

Even if we see the supernova tomorrow, the odds that we'll get hit are very, very low. Gamma Ray bursts are shot out in a line. They may think that based on its rotation its aimed right at us, but it only has to be slightly off a fraction of a degree to miss.

Oh man, I just bought two bags of charcoal and now I'm not going to need them. Bummer.

http://www.universetoday.com/23342/w...-us-after-all/


Early last year, concern was growing for a Wolf-Rayet star named WR 104 that appeared to be aiming right at Earth (see Looking Down the Barrel of A Gamma Ray Burst). A Wolf-Rayet star is a highly unstable star coming to the end of its life, possibly culminating in a powerful, planet-killing gamma-ray burst (GRB). GRBs are collimated beams of high energy gamma-rays, projected from the poles of a collapsing Wolf-Rayet star. It was little wonder that we were concerned when a dying Wolf-Rayet star was found to be pointing right at us! Today, at the AAS in Long Beach, one scientist working at the Keck Telescope has taken a keen interest in WR 104 and shared new findings that show our Solar System may not be bathed in deadly gamma-rays after all…

Wolf-Rayet stars are evolved massive stars undergoing a suicidal and violent death. They are very hot (up to 50,000K) and losing mass very quickly, generating powerful stellar winds (at velocities of 2000 km/s). WR 104 was imaged using the Keck Telescope in Hawaii last March, and images of the pinwheel spiral star system appeared to show that we were “looking down a rifle barrel”.

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So what is causing this spiral structure around WR 104? The star has a binary O-type star partner, so as WD 104 sheds its mass, the stellar winds spiral outward. As we are seeing the full spiral from Earth, it was therefore reasonable to assume the binary system was facing right toward us. As WR 104 probably has its pole pointing 90° from the ecliptic plane, any future GRB could be directed straight at us.

“WR 104 is a fascinating object that got a lot of press last spring,” Dr Grant Hill said during the AAS meeting today (Jan 7th). “Since the object is in our galaxy, it could be devastating [for Earth]”

Hill therefore decided to confirm previous Keck observations with spectroscopic data to find out if there could be the possibility of an Earth-directed GRB. His work confirms the system is a binary pair, orbiting each other at an 8 month period. Hill also confirmed the presence of a shock front between the stellar winds of WD 104 and O-type partner. And there is some very good news for Earth. It would appear the original Keck imagry may not have been as straight-forward as it seemed. Spectroscopic emission lines from the binary pair strongly suggest the system is in fact inclined 30°-40° (possibly as much as 45°) away from us.

So, Earth doesn’t appear to be in the firing line of WR 104 after all…

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/23342/w...#ixzz2VG4nhIHy

However, just to be safe, I think we should implement all of Al Gore's global warming policies. You just never know.

womp-womp

:LOL:

I have faith that some highly advanced civilization in our galaxy will fly to it and do something to save themselves, ultimately saving us as well.

...perhaps plant an explosive on the surface, heroically sacrificing themselves for the greater good, while Aerosmith plays in the background....

So, essentially, like Matt Cassel. Got it.

Our determination can willis to survive.

what you talkin about?

I think he was kidding.

They call me Bruce

They call me Willis

http://images4.fanpop.com/image/phot...57-582-428.jpg

If it was aimed right at us, the advanced alien civilization would probably shrug their shoulders and not care, unless they knew we existed and cared about us.

A gamma ray burst from a dying star is like a gun (except it would shoot in 2 directions, forward and backward, instead of just forward). This hypothetical alien civilization would be standing off to the side seeing the gun pointed away from them, maybe not knowing or caring that we were in the crosshairs.

Here's what they are talking about. If you are in one of those two beams of light, bad news for you. More than likely we wont ever be though, unless we are incredibly unlucky.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/...viewHETEim.jpg

Energy/power levels that are impossible to comprehend. The numbers stagger the imagination.

Alex Smith?

Seriously. It leaves you in awe just thinking about it. The most powerful one we've managed to study released more energy than 9000 supernovae exploding all at once. Truly incomprehensible. And on top of that, all that energy is concentrated and collimated into a narrow cosmic laser beam travelling at 99.999999% the speed of light. The light from a GRB can be seen 7.5 billion light years away. Half way across the entire known universe.

Mind blown......

Amazing. My brain can't process this.

It took us 13 years to reach Saturn with a probe. On the cosmic scale it is like traveling millimeters when the nearest star is miles away.

It only takes one year to reach Uranus with a probe. At least once you reach the age of 45 or so.

Don't believe any part of it.

Justification for a current and/or future grants.

No, don't be silly. That's not how it works. Scientists can't just dream up shit for funding. The process is way way too complicated for that. If you had any idea how hard it is to get a grant, you would realize how foolish that sounds.