Comments on: Evidence of Supernovae Found in Ice Core Sample

By: Amber K. Muir

Amber K. Muir — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 06:01:30 +0000

In lieu of the comments so far made, the gamma rays and neutrinos arrive first, followed by the EM pulse, then the visual rise in brightness.
The reason for the delay has little to do with the medium, but is caused by the supernova formation process. The reaction is started by the collapse of the core, which when reaching the maximum compression, immediately releases the high-energy gamma ray photons and the neutrinos over about 0.3 seconds.
After the core bounces, the catastrophic event releases the remaining radiation back into surrounding space. This shell is at first opaque, but as the shell expands, the higher frequencies radiate in turn from expanding material.
Maximum visual brightness is only reached within a day or two later.
What is terrifying is the irradiation occurs without warning and has no possible warning system (save predicting the actual core collapse, which is presently beyond our capabilities.)

By: Aqua

Aqua — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:02:34 +0000

Oops.. Fermi Gamma Ray Telescope.. not the Max Plank scope which I was just reading about prior to… oh nevermind.

By: Aqua

Aqua — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:57:48 +0000

"that that"? sheesh , my fingers appear to be traviling a little bit in front of themselves also.

By: Aqua

Aqua — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:55:22 +0000

Recent MaxPlank *.sat observations seem to indicate that that higher energy or gamma ray shockfronts may travel faster than lesser energetic EM pulses. The real question is whether or not those high energy gamma ray bursts actually were measured traveling faster than light, implying an extra-dimensional influencing medium.

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:13:59 +0000

i'm sure al gore will find a way to spin this to show that humans are to blame for SNs

By: tonedeaf

tonedeaf — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 17:18:47 +0000

Would this discovery further validate the perspective that mankind's role in contributing to global warming is minimal when compared to natural phenomena? Or is there any indirect inference to global climatic changes (ie: warming) with regard to this discovery? Thanks.

By: Marcus

Marcus — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:39:07 +0000

Any metals would have mass and therefore would not travel at near the speed of the energy put off by the supernovea. I am more curious as to what can be found out about the earlier spike however.

By: Bill L.

Bill L. — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:07:30 +0000

Chris;

This is just a guess, but I would be willing to bet that the heavy metals, being massive particles, are stopped before getting to earth, by a gas or dust cloud, for example. Gamma rays, on the other hand, are unaffected by most interstellar obstacles. Also, it may be possible (and this is just speculation) that their concentrations are too low to register above the background. A lot more gamma radiation is produced than heavy metal nuclei, meaning that heavy metal concentrations are already much lower than gamma ray concentrations. This alone might be enough to keep heavy metal readings below the background, or it might be a combination; some heavy metals are blocked by ust, and the reduced number that get through are too few to register.

Anyways, all of that is speculation, but it seems to make sense to me.

By: maudyfish

maudyfish — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 13:37:04 +0000

Question, can the remnants thrown off so rapidly and travel so quickly through space affect the genetics of humans on Earth?

By: Chris Coles

Chris Coles — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:59:01 +0000

Skeeter,

The ice is several miles thick in places. It was that thick over the Northern UK during the last ice age. Greenland ice is about 10,000 feet thick and is why if it melts world sea levels will rise about twenty feet.

One thing: where are the deposits of heavy metals from SN's?????

By: Spoodle58

Spoodle58 — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:39:27 +0000

Yeah Dave it sure is man.
I like reading stuff like this.

By: skeeter

skeeter — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:33:40 +0000

Amazing that they had ice deep enough to drill into to a depth of 50 ft. given that the polar caps have melted from global warming and setting the polar bears adrift. And now they think they'll drill deeper?! That'll be a neat trick. Science is awesome.

By: tomkaten

tomkaten — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:47:14 +0000

Yes, good point, Vino. In fact, I bet most of our earthly "Viracocha" type beliefs are probably derived from regular or more exotic space events that occured at some point in the past.

I bet most of us would love to witness such an event, but unfortunately our lives are but a picosecond in the endless flow of time. "It could explode tonight or in a million years" is a testament to that

By: Vino

Vino — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:36:48 +0000

Probably these explosions are the basis for some interesting myths in some countries…a good possibility!!!

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 06:33:22 +0000

Stuff like this is more interesting and grand than any ancient myth.

By: PutScience1st

PutScience1st — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:41:17 +0000

Gotta love science!

By: pro

pro — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:33:44 +0000

I meant, the travel time depended on SN's distances, sorry

By: pro

pro — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:32:44 +0000

the_nthian , it is not relevant how long did it take for gamma rays to arrive – they arrived at the same instant as their light, that means in 1006 and 1054, and this depends on how far away were the SN's…

By: the_nthian

the_nthian — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:26:55 +0000

Only a couple of little pieces left to figure out. How long did it take for these gamma rays to travel to earth? and How long did it take for the nitrates to form and then precipitate?
Altogether a very interesting topic.

By: Yoo

Yoo — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:03:43 +0000

It's amazing to see tangible traces of supernovae being found on Earth itself.

By: robbi

robbi — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:46:07 +0000

I've read many articles about the SN1006, it was low in the southern sky as seen from China and Arabic countries, and had to be awfully bright dispite atmospheric dimming due to being low on the horizon. This had to be a class 1A type SN, when I try to get info on the distance, I get conflicting distances, form 2k-5k LY away. Betelgeuse, as this is relatively close, should this collapse and explode, I understand could be as brilliant as
the Moon, however, it will remain a point of light and can hurt the eyes looking at this for more than a few seconds, perhaps Betelgeuse will explode in a million years or tonight!!! No one knows!
This is an interesting article how SN1006 although 2k-5k LY away, still had an impact on our atmosphere. I've read various articles about should Betelgeuse explodes, enough
neutrinos and charged particles will get though our atmosphere and damage severe
enough human tissues and DNA and kill 1/100th of our population from Cancer, the type that affects the whole body quickly,this is
60million people!!! There are various reports that 6million die yearly from Cancer that affects the whole body, although there was no history of cancer in the family or in a cancerous environment, these are the 'strange' cancer cases that doesn't start from a certain area of the body but affects the whole body quickly and the person dies relatively quickly- these 6million are just victims of the natural cosmic rays and UltraHighPowerCosmicRays that hits humans. I am always amazed how much power the Universe has, we all are having 100M neutinos passing through us every secondth, amazing.!!!