Could this cause the end in 2012? New pulsar found.

reply to post by Quantum_Squirrel

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I didn't say you stated anything as fact, let's not go off the boil here. We pretty much seem to see eye-to-eye on things so no harm done. I respect your views and opinions as I do everyone elses.

reply to post by Agent Venom

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And yours to good sir/madam thats why i visit here , for a wealth of different viewpoints.

21,000 light years is EXTREMLEY far,no matter how close the Earth's orbit comes near to the star it would still be THOUSANDS of light years away,the orbit of Earth may bring us at the MOST,half a light year closer,no more............no chance it can affect us.Even if it was a GRB.

[edit on 5/19/2008 by jkrog08]

[edit on 5/19/2008 by jkrog08]

[edit on 5/19/2008 by jkrog08]

First.................21,000 light years is NOT close,even realitive to our galaxy........Under 1000 light years would be considered close.


Second,one parsec is 3.2 light years(I also take college level Astronomy)


Finnaly,All planets in our solar system travel in ELIPTICAL orbits,and we postulate that ALL exosolar planets do aswell.

[edit on 5/19/2008 by jkrog08]

why is it spinning in circles wouldnt it have to have something to orbit around?

Honestly.... I want proof... I mean it is so possiably that Planet x is out there or something huge, and the government is hidding it from us... I know that something's gonna happen... too much speculation that it is... I just want that little bit more proof that little thing that makes you know it's real.

First off 21 light years,means this thing cooked off in 1987.We are now seeing the results.Pulsars are only dangerous if the flare or pole is oriented directly in line with earth.All though unlikely,the unstable system of three stars could,possibly re-aim said flare.So lets say another event in 1991,with a flare pointed right at us,there you go.2012 !!! The math dictates that this is highly unlikely though.Take a sphere,divide by 360 on both a x and y axis and you have hundreds of thousands of possible directions.Throw in two unstable stars and it goes to hundreds of millions.So don't count on it hitting earth with gamma ray's anytime soon.

Yes, in terms of driving to the local Target, it seems like a long way away.

In terms of the farthest Galaxy, it is fairly close. Please try not to think in such narrow minded fashion.

You are thinking of taking the space shuttle there, right?
Try to think about taking the SS Enterprise, how long would that take?

It IS a long long way ,very very FAR!



Not thinking narrow mindedly , these distances are FACT! Hard to comprehend the extreme distances.
I ask you , please just try to think.

This is not opinion or theory nor mild conjecture and most certainly, not science fiction.
21,000 light years is TWENTY ONE THOUSAND Light years, PERIOD.



Ok I’ll bite. Lets just say that ’ol Captain Kirk’s Enterprise warp drives can go the speed of light.
[this is the undisputed cosmic speed limit in the known universe] Yep, Flat out fast. 300,000 Km per second. Now if he just left Earth at that speed, it will take him……….wait for it……

TWENTY ONE THOUSAND YEARS(earth time) to get there!! …….Get it yet?

Now, inverse square law is in effect here, so the energy dissipation at these distances, well it’s Astronomical. But lets not really go there until the fundamentals of these distances are understood!

Lets just say, it would be like trying to feel the heat of a birthday candle that is 1 million miles away.

Peace
Edit to note: the altering of time at relativistic speeds has not been factored for this simplistic example, this is to illustrate this distance.


[edit on 21-5-2008 by Zeptepi]

I LOLed when I saw this topic - I have an astronomy exam in an hour and a half and now I'm hoping pulsars come up.

Keeping more on topic, unless I'm mistaken pulsars emit synchrotron radiation rather than thermal. This means they're more likely to emit intense radio waves, which are no where near as damaging as gamma rays (which generally don't even make it through the atmosphere). So I'm guessing we're safe, especially considering the distance.

reply to post by Malech

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Yep, you are correct on all counts. And welcome to ATS!

This neutron star that is a pulsar, is really spinning fast. I wonder how the accretion disk behaves in this system. Or if there is one.

Anyhow good luck on your exam, last time I took an astrophysics exam, radio astronomy was brand new!

Peace
edit to add: welcome to new member

[edit on 21-5-2008 by Zeptepi]

reply to post by Zeptepi

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Hey, thanks. I've looked around ATS for a while, but I generally don't post too often. I just thought that this was too much of a coincidence to overlook. Oh, and:

Question 3 part 1: Why are pulsars believed to be rapidly rotating neutron stars?

That is too funny! I hope you got it right LOL.

The best part of that funny is that I thought , when I first read your last post, that you were asking me that question! Now you can laugh at me….I had to remove a great deal of my reply and technical answer to you.
All about the intense rotating magnetic fields in relation to the rotating mass of the neutron star….gamma and X-ray pulses….blah blah blah…..now it is even more hilarious!

Good to meet you mate…and good luck with your astronomical studies and pursuits.

A light is a waive, right?

Does that mean the light travels in an up and down motion, while traveling out in all directions? I know it takes a lot longer to drive on a snaking road than going in a straight flat line.

Now, if this is like a gyro top, once it clips something it may go off 10 times faster in another direction? Plus, there is no data on how fast it is moving now.

I thought warp drive 5 was 5 times the speed of light?

Okay, thanks for the info. I'm no astro-whiz. My basic understanding of pulsars is that the faster the spin the higher their frequency is. Obviously, my information is wrong.

Thanks for setting me straight.

Sleuth

21000 light years is nearly a quarter of the way across the galaxy. Anything near enough to the pulsar to remain in orbit around it would also be about 21000 years away. If it were much further away it would break free or fall into orbit around something else.

It takes our solar system approximately 225 to 250 million years to orbit the galactic center. Our solar system takes about 1400 years to travel one light year, so even if we were heading straight at the pulsar it would take tens of millions of years to get there.

The fact that the observed light from the pulsar is 21000 years old means that it could be a few dozen light years closer now at most.

Light has wave/particle duality. That is, it behaves both as a wave and as a particle. I have no idea as to what warp drive 5 is, but nothing can travel faster than light.

Lets pretend that this objected suddenly shot off in the EXACT direction of Earth, and is travelling at 10 times the speed of light, and is going to hit Earth and wipe it out in 2012.
So what?
You aren't going to know about it, and there isn't anything you can do , so what the hells the point in worrying about it?
People are weird.