Comments on: Blinding Gamma Ray Burst Was Directed at Earth

By: Bob (Not my real name)

Bob (Not my real name) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 01:29:49 +0000

Wow, it's amazing at what can happen in the Universe.

By: Brian Keinath

Brian Keinath — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:26:02 +0000

It's amazing to me that most comments are splitting hairs over the common usage of the word "AIMED" ….

By: zachariah mcnaughton

zachariah mcnaughton — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:59:17 +0000

It's amazing to realize how little we understand. For example the velocity of our sun relative to the black hole at the center of our galaxy. There are too many vectors to be taken into consideration. Even for an entire planet of astrophysicists.

By: Maccas

Maccas — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:27:39 +0000

re Leigh, September 10th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
"im sure iv seen one once i was looking up at the stars in my garden and one came and went in 5 seconds it was very bright and then just nothing strange i still wonder what it was i saw that night the sky was very clear and full of stars thanks~"

Back about Sept 2000 in the southerly direction of the Southern Cross (am in Australia) I saw a similar event in the sky to that you describe but which lasted for about 20sec before fading & was very bright similar to other stars around it if not brighter if I recall correctly (long ago now). It illuminated to maximum brightness quickly, caught my attention, was steady in brightness & without motion & I remember thinking it couldn't possibly be a meteor & looked as though it was there to stay but then faded away.
I assumed it may have been a supernova at the time but didn't know what to do about it or who to call etc. & assumed somebody more important than a casual observer would have spotted it. I would like to know more about what it may have been if anybody knows of such an event around that time & location. I think I could reconstruct more detail as the event stuck in my mind thats for sure & made a good mental note of it, time, date, approximate location in the sky. Trouble is I thought that if it was something very far away then even a small amount area of sky is still a huge area. Regret not following up at the time now.

Re comments about "aimed" etc. – Guys don't get your knickers in a knot – I think we all know it wasn't actually "aimed" how stupid do you think we are…..& if you actually are that stupid to believe it was "aimed" well may the force be with you and keep you safe, warp 10 Scotty! Cheers.

By: Javier Rivas

Javier Rivas — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 06:02:38 +0000

Just some brief comments:

It may have been aimed in that direction, where Earth is now; however, neither our planet existed then- event ocurred before it's creation-, nor was our planet- then- where it is now, thus it is not feasible for GRB to have been "aimed" at our planet. One can be just a tad more realistic and see that the GRB ocurred as part of it's process, and by shear "luck, we have been in the path of one of it's lines of travel, we can be realistic, hopeful, and with our feet solidly on the ground, and then we can evaluate things with more coherence, which allows us to see with more clarity any and all events that happen out there. Thank you. Javier

By: Maritz

Maritz — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 14:01:45 +0000

@ GRaBoid -

You got the impression that the article was saying this was purposely 'aimed' ? That strikes me as odd !

And yes, if it's 7.5 billion light years away, that means it happened 7.5 billion years ago. The Sun wasn't even a twinkle in the eye of cold interstellar gas.

By: Evan

Evan — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 18:58:32 +0000

"Burrows said if a similar event happened at our own galaxy, we would be in considerable trouble. "It's been postulated that a nearby gamma ray burst directed at earth could affect our atmosphere, causing something like a nuclear winter.""

So THAT'S what killed the dinosaurs! I always thought the "big rock falling from the sky" theory was a bit silly….

By: Hot Stuff

Hot Stuff — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:36:45 +0000

I had a GRB once after eating at Taco Bell

By: Horace

Horace — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 06:19:03 +0000

your diagram is too small. the wording cannot be made out even if we click the diagram and see if it expands.

By: noob slurpee

noob slurpee — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:12:58 +0000

The road of assumption is lined with coffins.

By: ggita stephen

ggita stephen — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:20:04 +0000

help out here seem to be a little lost with the usage of the present tense you made seem like the burst just occured inspite of that great distance of 7.5 billion light years away i would presume that burst occured alittle 7.5 billion years ago more in respect to the seep of the gamma rays 99.9999…… am right ?

By: GRaBoid

GRaBoid — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:10:03 +0000

A GRB traveled 7.5 billion light-years in a direction that
allowed wonderful observations from Earth and satellites.

How could that have been "aimed" or "directed" toward an
Earth that would not exist for another ~3 billion years?

From the article:

Covino: "… down the barrel of the … jet."
Burrows: "… postulated that a nearby GRB directed at earth …"

NA: … aimed almost directly at Earth.
NA: … shot material directly toward Earth …
NA: A head-on burst directed towards Earth …
NA: The team believes the jet directed toward Earth …

Perhaps a future version of this writeup could use
constructions that does not imply intent or foreknowledge,
such as "in the direction of" or "jet that travelled toward
Earth's current location", rather than risking readers taking
"aimed" and "directed towards" as clear evidence of the
FSM's far-reaching and all-knowing powers and capabilities.

By: Timepest

Timepest — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:22:06 +0000

@Xenophon: The nearest galaxy is more like 2 million light years away. As for Hubble, it wasn't looking in the Milky Way as Burrows said (apologies for the entire quote): 'Burrows said if a similar event happened at our own galaxy, we would be in considerable trouble. "It's been postulated that a nearby gamma ray burst directed at earth, could affect our atmosphere, causing something like a nuclear winter. We are fortunate in that we don't believe there are any stars in our galas that will produce a gamma ray burst." '

Moreover, if the Hubble's limit is 13 billion light years, then 7.5 billion is within reach for the Hubble to detect. What is it that doesn't add up? Perhaps… the wording in the article?

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:00:44 +0000

The article was correct:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080328.html

" The source of that burst has been discovered to lie over halfway across the Universe at a distance of about 7.5 billion light-years. Now holding the distinction of the most distant object that could be seen by the unaided eye and the intrinsically brightest object ever detected"

By: Xenophon

Xenophon — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:01:09 +0000

"Incredibly, the dying star was 7.5 billion light-years away. "

Is this a typo? Our own galaxy is "only" 100 thousand light years across. The nearest galaxy to ours is about 4 million light years distant. The farthest out that Hubble has seen is around 13 billion light years. Something doesn't add up.

By: Don Alexander

Don Alexander — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:58:32 +0000

@Vern Wall: Someone told you wrong. Try "per cubic centimeter". And while this is still better than almost any vacuum that can be produced on earth, we are talking of HUGE spaces here. This stuff scales, it's dependent upon the free mean path. While a particle may need to travel 50 AU to collide with another one, you have that space! So collisions and shocks do take place, there's a speed of sound etc.

By: Vern Wall

Vern Wall — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 10:51:53 +0000

I don't know much, but I'm told that even a relatively dense concentration of matter in space has only a few particles per cubic kilometer. How is a shock wave produced in such a low density?

By: Haplo

Haplo — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:12:06 +0000

I told them not to turn on the LHC, now face it!

By: Aodhhan

Aodhhan — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:31:33 +0000

Don…

You are misreading what I said, and what NASA is saying as well.

By: Don Alexander

Don Alexander — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:12:09 +0000

@Aodhhan: Nope. At ultrarelativistic speeds, there is almost no sideways movement. Everything is travelling along the direction of the jet – GRBs are invisible from a 90Â° angle. also, except for the following subrelativistic supernova, the jets are highly collimated, so there is no "in all directions".

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:51:22 +0000

Could have been an Iridium satellite.

By: leigh

leigh — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:30:01 +0000

iv seen over 100 shooting stars it did not exploded it faded away like you see a star then its gone it was not moving it was still
thanks for the reply leigh

By: Eric Near Buffalo

Eric Near Buffalo — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:42:49 +0000

~~leigh Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
im sure iv seen one once i was looking up at the stars in my garden and one came and went in 5 seconds it was very bright and then just nothing strange i still wonder what it was i saw that night the sky was very clear and full of stars thanks~~

Most likely what you saw was actually a shooting star heading in your general direction – something coming down thru the atmosphere that started burning up and exploded.

By: Aodhhan

Aodhhan — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 11:39:21 +0000

Don,

They are referring to the energy and lights caused by the concentrated beams on each end and why they are so bright; which is correct. I believe you are referring to the shock wave which propogates in all directions.

Both right, just describing two different things

By: Quasar9

Quasar9 — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 06:10:34 +0000

the dragon slayer, the eskimo nebula, the smoking star in eta carinea, the GRB from six months ago, and the LHC closer to home – all in one day
The universe isa busy place
and for its next trick, watch this space.

Great blog, love it!