NASA to announce discovery

WASHINGTON -- NASA has scheduled a media teleconference Wednesday, May 14, at 1 p.m. EDT, to announce the discovery of an object in our Galaxy astronomers have been hunting for more than 50 years. This finding was made by combining data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory with ground-based observations.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2008/may/HQ_M08089_Chandra_Advisory.html

Berserkers?

Nemesis

Is it the giant black hole at the centre?

>>3

hey we went through a lot of trouble to detect that ok

so what was it

human decency

>>6
Quality.

It was a giant supernova that's only 140 years old.

And therefore, it can be no further than 140 light years away.

tl;dr, we're fucked.

>>8

No, we'd be fucked if it happened within 5 lightyears. I doubt the mass ejected will have any effect on us.  Besides, any mass would have to be traveling at near the speed of light to get to us in any resonable amount of time, and the distances involved make it unlikely.  Be an interesting place to explore, if we ever manage to do that.

GALACTUS!!!

>>9
All that really matters for a neighborhood supernova is the radiation flux, not the matter ejections.  The ejections are fairly slow, but the radiation front will arrive at nearly lightspeed.  At 140LY, the radiation flux will be 0.005% of what it would be at 1LY.  So, how deadly is this supernova at a distance of 1LY?

Remember, if strong enough, the radiation front could do severe damage to our upper atmosphere, which could expose us to a lot more UV from the Sun, which would be a global catastrophe on many levels.  Again, will the radiation flux be strong enough to do something like that?

ETHEREAL

Swift shimmering shadow steps silently; saddened, still softly severing serenities, slicing sympathy staggering sturdily; suffering sarcastic solace. Never noticing naïve naiads nor narrows nor necrotic nethers nestled nearby; naughty neutral nocturnal nexus nevertheless normally nostalgic notions; noteworthy nemesis neo neurotic neuralgia. Exceptional effervescing elemental ephemeral entity experiencing euphoria everlasting eternally eschew evermore, Ethereal