ThePoesareLoose
Slickest pompadour in town
If this gamma ray had hit the earth directly, then that would've been the end. TIL we could be annihilated any second now
The earth could've been destroyed
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If this gamma ray had hit the earth directly, then that would've been the end. TIL we could be annihilated any second now
If this gamma ray had hit the earth directly, then that would've been the end. TIL we could be annihilated any second now
GRB's are awesome.
Terrifying, but awesome.
If one went off 25 light years from us, and we were right in the middle of the beam, the resulting energy would be like detonating a 1 megaton nuclear warhead over every square kilometer facing the beam.
Some are so far away, like billions of light years, and sometimes if you look up, you'll see a small blip in the sky, which is amazing.
But GRB's aren't the worst things the universe can throw at us. Gamma ray bursts, for all their power, hasn't affected us.... yet.
Magnetars are basically rapidly spinning neutron stars with insanely powerful magnetic fields, and sometimes they give off insanely strong EMP's. One was so strong, and it permanently affected our ionosphere!
What do you say to that except sh*t bricks?
it's hypothesized one was the cause of the first mass extinction on Earth that wiped 85% of life, it would sure kick the current mass extinction into high gear if this one hit us
That would be the Ordovician Extinction Event, if I recall correctly? The one where all of the trilobytes were zapped?
I think that's the prevailing hypothesis, and it makes sense.
It is incredible to think about just how lucky we are that everything lines up for us to exist as we do now.... and a little terrifying to consider how many things could go wrong. The universe is an amazing place that's for sure.
On this note, you all should buy and read Death From the Skies! by astronomer Dr. Phil Plait.
Every chapter, he provides a scenario for how the world as we know it would end by some astronomical event, how devastating it'd be from facts and numbers using his astronomical knowledge on the subject, how we could prevent it, if we could at all, and how likely each event would be to kill us.
One of the best science books I've bought along with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson's book, Astrophysics For People in a Hurry, and of course, Dr. Stephan Hawking's book A Brief History of Time, which I luckily have in leather-bound hardback!
Every chapter, he provides a scenario for how the world as we know it would end by some astronomical event, how devastating it'd be from facts and numbers using his astronomical knowledge on the subject, how we could prevent it, if we could at all, and how likely each event would be to kill us.
One of the best science books I've bought along with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson's book, Astrophysics For People in a Hurry, and of course, Dr. Stephan Hawking's book A Brief History of Time, which I luckily have in leather-bound hardback!