Star explodes halfway across universe, saw by naked eye, 40 times bigger than our sun

[Delirious]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/03/21/exploding.star.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The explosion of a star halfway across the universe was so huge it set a record for the most distant object that could be seen on Earth by the naked eye.

The aging star, in a previously unknown galaxy, exploded in a gamma ray burst 7.5 billion light years away, its light finally reaching Earth early Wednesday.
The gamma rays were detected by NASA's Swift satellite at 2:12 a.m. "We'd never seen one before so bright and at such a distance," NASA's Neil Gehrels said.
It was bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.

Pretty freaking awesome, isn't it...


Should be interesting also if this were to be discussed in the evolution vs. creation thread, but let's leave the epicness of this amazing event in this thread


So...what ya'll think? 7.5 BILLION light years is pretty far...right?

 

[Sage]

Ohhhh, only about 44,088,748,600,000,000,000,000 miles away. (±… a lot.)

 

[Omnis]

Any idea about when the shockwave is supposed to hit? Or is there no shockwave because of the lack of matter...

 

[Motominded]

40 times bigger than the sun!

"pshhhhh"

That's not that big!

 

[the Interceptor]

Also worth mentioning is that this star actually exploded 7.5 billion years ago.

 

[Alex.]

Damn that makes 299 792 458 m / s look slow

 

[Sureboss]

Any idea about when the shockwave is supposed to hit? Or is there no shockwave because of the lack of matter...

So that's why Massa crashed mysteriously!

 

[ExigeEvan]

I can see the price of tin foil reaching new highs soon...

 

[Richardrfo]

Also worth mentioning is that this star actually exploded 7.5 billion years ago.

To think, this happened before the Earth formed and we're only seeing it now...

 

[the Interceptor]

To think, this happened before the Earth formed and we're only seeing it now...

... makes some of us realize how small, insignificant and self-centered we are.

 

[Sureboss]

How do they know the light took 7.5 Billion years to get here? This may be a thick question.

 

[the Interceptor]

Because we know the speed of light?

 

[Matt R]

7.5 billion light years away. One light year is 5.9 trillion miles.

That's a bunch of zeros.

 

[Denur]

How do they know the light took 7.5 Billion years to get here? This may be a thick question.

No, that is a very good question and it takes more than Physics 101 to understand this. Maybe this will help: http://www.paulandliz.org/School_Pages/Distance_Measurements/Default.htm

 

[superberkut]

For the last post, nice diagrams.

Would it be as visible on the East Coast?

Edit: Never mind, I wasn't thinking when I asked that.

 

[Denur]

Because we know the speed of light?

And the Doppler effect and the Hubble constant. But the speed of light does play a large role in determining a star's distance to where we are in this rather large playfield.

 

[Denur]

For the last post, nice diagrams.

Would it be as visible on the East Coast?

Edit: Never mind, I wasn't thinking when I asked that.

Again, not a bad question. If the blast was only visible for a very limited time (a few hours), than you might have missed it on your East Coast (the east coast of Australia or the USA or what ever, it doesn't matter). But these kind of star explosions tend to last for days and even months. There is a report from old China (Middle ages) of a what we now call a supernova. It brought light to the night, enough to read comfortably by whithout any candles during the deepest of nights and lasted for months. Of course it makes a difference of where you live on our tiny planet, the season where in and from where the supernova's light comes. If you're unlucky, the bright star will always be outshone by our own sun during the day.

 

[the Interceptor]

No, that is a very good question and it takes more than Physics 101 to understand this. Maybe this will help: http://www.paulandliz.org/School_Pages/Distance_Measurements/Default.htm

So the question was not how we know that it took the light as long to get here, rather than how we know how far this star was away from us?

 

[Denur]

So the question was not how we know that it took the light as long to get here, rather than how we know how far this star was away from us?

No, that is basically the same question. If we know the answer to one, we also know the answer to the other. The speed of light in space is a constant. Only the color of the light might vary, because of the Doppler effect. OK, the speed of light varies a bit between stars moving away and coming closer, but that is only minimal and more a subject of the relativity theory.

 

[Venari]

Ohhhh, only about 44,088,748,600,000,000,000,000 miles away. (±… a lot.)

I can't wait for the next Top Gear episode:

JC: "This week, Richard and James fly to this exploded star system using only equipment designed by NASA, whilst I drive... the new Nissan GT-R!"

 

[Denur]

I can't wait for the next Top Gear episode:

JC: "This week, Richard and James fly to this exploded star system using only equipment designed by NASA, whilst I drive... the new Nissan GT-R!"

And James will prove that there is something like going slower than the speed of light and Richard, well Richard will just crash into any star on the way like in a pinball machine. Jeremy meanwhile will have a clever remark on how a speedtrap would still miss James, although he is having a ball at half the speed of light (he isn't called captain slow for no reason, you know).

 

[kikie]

I can't wait for the next Top Gear episode:

JC: "This week, Richard and James fly to this exploded star system using only equipment designed by NASA, whilst I drive... the new Nissan GT-R!"

So you are the one that write the text for Jeremy!

 

[Sureboss]

No, that is a very good question and it takes more than Physics 101 to understand this. Maybe this will help: http://www.paulandliz.org/School_Pages/Distance_Measurements/Default.htm

Thanks Denur 👍

Good website, could use with a better font colour and background though.

 

[Denur]

Thanks Denur 👍

Good website, could use with a better font colour and background though.

I hope it helped, and for the web design, contact them, I just used google to find them, so don't blame the messenger for the bad design.

 

[RecklesAbandon2]

7.5 billion light years away. One light year is 5.9 trillion miles.

That's a bunch of zeros.

44,250,000,000,000,000,000,000 miles

Here's an interesting question: with something so far away, how much would that distance change, if say, oooo the geometry used in measuring it were, I dont know, .0001 degrees off, and throw in 5 million miles of earths rotational diameter with it?

you see, to find that distance, they relied on the earths rotational diameter around the sun being exactly what they've calculated. If that number is not perfect, that changes this incredibly tiny angle, and destroys the calculation of distance.

You see, this is a triangle that is 44,250,000,000,000,000,000,000 long (we think), and only 186,000,000 wide on the other end.
a better look
44,250,000,000,000,000,000,000
186,000,000

That's 237,903,225,806,451.613 (rounded) times the width.
237 trillion, 903 billion, etc, etc.

so if the earth's rotational diameter is only 181,000,000 miles, you'd have to take off 5,000,000 X 237,903,225,806,451.613 miles. or about 1,189,516,129,032,253,065,000 miles.

that would be an error of 201,612,903 light years
Not that it would matter in the slightest against 7.5 billion, but something neat that kept me out of boredom for a bit

 

[Sage]

You’re a bit late to the party.

 

[RecklesAbandon2]

Funny thing is, I now remember seeing that very post
But hey, that means I got it right!