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The Arthur C. Clarke Gamma Ray Burst

Journal written by Grendel70 (1000350) and posted by kdawson on Tue Mar 25, 2008 01:54 PM
from the second-biggest-bang dept.
Space Sci-Fi
Larry Sessions, a columnist for Earth & Sky, has suggested in his blog that the gamma-ray event whose radiation reached us a few hours before Arthur C. Clarke died, and which occurred 7.5 billion years ago, be named the Clarke Event. The outburst, which produced enough visible light to render it a naked-eye object across half the universe, is officially designated GRB 080319B. What more fitting tribute to Clarke than to associate his name with the greatest bang since the big one? Sessions suggests writing to any astronomers, heads of physics departments, or planetarium operators you know and talking up the proposal.
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Many readers are sending in word that Arthur C. Clarke has died in Sri Lanka. He wrote over 100 books including 2001: A Space Odyssey and Rendezvous With Rama, and popularized the ideas of geosynchronous communications satellites and space elevators.
[+] Gamma Ray Burst Visible At Record Distance 68 comments
Invisible Pink Unicorn writes "A gamma ray burst detected on March 19 by NASA's Swift satellite has set a new record for the most distant object that could be seen with the naked eye. The burst had a measured redshift of 0.94, meaning the explosion took place 7.5 billion years ago. The optical afterglow from heated gas was 2.5 million times more luminous than the most luminous supernova ever recorded, making it the most intrinsically bright object ever observed by humans in the universe. The previous most distant object visible to the naked eye is the nearby galaxy M33, a relatively short 2.9 million light years from Earth."
Journal: A Fitting Tribute by Grendel70 (1000350)
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  • Clarke event, a gamma ray burst? I don't think so. I'm holding out for the lunar obelisk.

  • No Europa Landings! (Score:5, Funny)

    by explosivejared (1186049) <hagan@jared.gmail@com> on Tuesday March 25 2008, @01:58PM (#22861134)
    Just don't name any missions to Europa after him! That would probably upset him.

  • If they find a new cluster of stars (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 25 2008, @01:58PM (#22861138)
    If they find a large cluster of stars in the near future, I'll recommend "The Dick Cheney Clusterfuck."

    • If they find a large cluster of stars in the near future, I'll recommend "The Dick Cheney Clusterfuck."
      Needs to be more specific. Maybe a cluster being torn apart by a massive black hole? One cluster invading another? A cluster of old stars?

      Maybe abbreviate it to "DC Cluster F" to get it accepted by a naming committee.

    • So, what do you have against stars? (Score:5, Funny)

      by StefanJ (88986) on Tuesday March 25 2008, @03:59PM (#22862770) Homepage Journal
      Seriously, what if there's a inhabited planet around one of those stars and they find out what we think of them some day? We might be the ones who end up getting the shock-and-awe treatment, with a Mother Of All Nova Bombs.

      The only collection of objects that might deserve the name Cheney might be a scattering of parasite-ridden coyote droppings. Although given that scavenger dung may have better poll ratings . . .
  • clarke is well known venerable saint in astronomical and science circles

    if you wanted to call it the eliot spitzer event, or the march madness event, you might have some trouble convincing

    • the eliot spitzer event
      That one's already taken, don't worry though, she got a towel to clean that mess out of her hair.

      On a serious note, I do hope we can name it after Clarke, he has inspired many (including myself). And this seems as fitting a tribute as any.

  • Minor correction... (Score:5, Funny)

    by diesel66 (254283) * on Tuesday March 25 2008, @02:00PM (#22861190)

    What more fitting tribute to Clarke than to associate his name with the greatest bang since the big one?
    With all respect due Mr. Clarke and his burst, I would like to point out that Eccentrica Gallumbits [wikipedia.org] is already well know as "the best bang since the big one".

    So long, Mr. Clarke, and thanks for all the fiction...

  • The outburst, whick produced enough visible light to render it a naked-eye object across half the universe

    What would that be in Teraballmers?

    • What about Light-Ballmerchairs?

      • What about Light-Ballmerchairs?
        First you'd have to find some experimentalists that were courageous enough to want to measure the the speed of a Ballmer thrown chair.

        • It's simple! Get a hand-held radar gun, find Steve Ballmer in a public place and ensure there's an easily-throwable chair nearby. Then point to someone and tell Steve that the guy said the iPod was inferior to the Zune. Viola! All that suffers is your conscience.

  • What more fitting tribute to Clarke than to associate his name with the greatest bang since the big one?

    But Zaphod Beeblebrox already has a name. :)

    • What more fitting tribute to Clarke than to associate his name with the greatest bang since the big one?


      But Zaphod Beeblebrox already has a name. :)

      That's OK, from now on he'll just be known as "Zaphod Beeblebrox, who is associated with the name Clarke"
  • Is Arthur C. Clarke capable of wiping out all life on Earth? If not, I don't think it would be right to equate him with GRB 080319B.

  • Overdoing it (Score:5, Informative)

    by isomeme (177414) <cberry@cine.net> on Tuesday March 25 2008, @02:26PM (#22861526) Homepage Journal
    What, having the single most valuable orbit type [wikipedia.org] named after him isn't enough? The orbit has the further advantage of actually being his idea.

  • The Objective is to Remember (Score:5, Insightful)

    by moore.dustin (942289) on Tuesday March 25 2008, @02:32PM (#22861576)
    With all due respect, should we not remember him by naming something after him that itself will be remembered? I mean really, this Gamma Ray Burst is not going to be a topic for many people in even a couple weeks, let alone several years from now. We remember Kennedy via the Kennedy Space Center, Hawking gets Hawking Radiation, Einstein/Galileo has some satellites and the examples are really endless here. Why not name something after him which will carry his namesake more actively throughout the future. Of course this is not the only thing that will bear his name, but out of all the possibilities people want to spend their effort on this one? I'd like to see that enthusiasm directed towards something better than getting a GRB event named after him. Cool? Maybe. Lasting? No.
    • I don't disagree with this point of view, but the gamma ray burst is actually quite appropriate for the man who wrote, The Star, which received the Hugo for best short story in 1956. It remains one of the most memorable stories by Clarke that I've ever read.
    • He already has one of those, it's the Clarke orbit [wikipedia.org] named because he came up with the idea.

    • Re:The Objective is to Remember (Score:4, Informative)

      by reverseengineer (580922) on Tuesday March 25 2008, @03:18PM (#22862214)
      In terms of more lasting recognition for Arthur C. Clarke, he already has asteroid 4923 Clarke, a dinosaur, Serendipaceratops arthurcclarkei, Clarke orbits (an IAU recognized term for geostationary orbit), , a bunch of space stuff has already been named for his Odyssey works, and if we ever build a space elevator, it's likely his name will be connected in some way with that. The man has already been much honored, and deservedly so.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by JoeMerchant (803320)
      If this GRB is as rare as it appears to be, it will likely serve as a reference magnitude for other GRBs observed in the future (i.e., today's burst was the largest ever - 1.3x the magnitude of the Clarke Event observed in 2008, etc.)

      As an aside, I'm surprised no comments (that I've read) follow this line of logic:

      Of course Clarke's death didn't cause the burst, but wouldn't it be remarkable if somehow, even if by seeming coincidence, the burst caused his death?

      • If this GRB is as rare as it appears to be, it will likely serve as a reference magnitude for other GRBs observed in the future (i.e., today's burst was the largest ever - 1.3x the magnitude of the Clarke Event observed in 2008, etc.)

        "If" that is true then it would be fine. Really, it is fine either way; my quarrel is with the effort being directed towards this objective when surely there are others far better. Provided what you said ends up being true, then chalk it up as another fitting thing baring his namesake. We can add it to the list others have replied with above me; but it still doesn't change the fact that the effort to remember him could focus its attention on something much more memorable for those of use still around.

  • The Star (Score:4, Funny)

    by Guy Harris (3803) <guy@alum.mit.edu> on Tuesday March 25 2008, @02:46PM (#22861772)

    An explosive event in space named after Clarke? Oh, great.... [lucis.net]

  • This would make.
  • No doubt Larry had read Clarke's short story "The Star" [wikipedia.org].

  • An alternative proposal (Score:5, Insightful)

    by hcdejong (561314) <acme@xm[ ]t.nl ['sne' in gap]> on Tuesday March 25 2008, @03:10PM (#22862086)
    How about making sure Clarke Orbit becomes the common name for the geostationary orbit?
  • How do we know this gamma ray burst isn't what finally did him in?

  • Why God? (Score:4, Funny)

    by STrinity (723872) on Tuesday March 25 2008, @03:54PM (#22862720) Homepage
    There were so many stars you could have used. What was the need to give those people to the fire, so the symbol of their passing might shine above Sri Lanka?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by STrinity (723872)
      Whoever modded me a troll should immediately lose all geek cred. My post was word-for-word from a Clarke story, except I changed Bethleham to Sri Lanka.

    • Re:no, don't care for it (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MightyMartian (840721) on Tuesday March 25 2008, @02:00PM (#22861178) Journal
      How does that follow? Astronomical bodies get named after famous people or scientists frequently. No one is saying Clarke caused it (after all, it did happen over seven billion years ago), but it's a way of recognizing one of the most influential science/sci-fi writers who has ever lived.

      • ...the gamma-ray event whose radiation reached us a few hours before Arthur C. Clarke died...
        I suspect it was Carl Sagan who fired that gamma-ray, knowing all to well Mr. Clarke was not wearing his tinfoil hat.

    • Re:no, don't care for it (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 25 2008, @02:01PM (#22861194)

      The Clarke Event makes it sound like he was involved in it some way. Show that his death triggered the burst and I will be most impressed.

      "Look," whispered a Slashdotter, and Jollyreaper lifted his eyes to heaven. (There is always a last time for everything.)

      Overhead, in glorious blazes of gamma radiation, the stars were going out.

      • Re:no, don't care for it (Score:5, Funny)

        by jollyreaper (513215) on Tuesday March 25 2008, @04:32PM (#22863178)

        "Look," whispered a Slashdotter, and Jollyreaper lifted his eyes to heaven. (There is always a last time for everything.)

        Overhead, in glorious blazes of gamma radiation, the stars were going out.
        "No, you dolt," said Jollyreaper. "It is a passing cloud." (The simplest explanation is usually the best.)

        "Ah, so it is," replied the Anonymous Coward, and crawled back into his cave.
    • Ever since I was a kid I wondered who this Haley was that first threw a comet out of our atmosphere.

      • Re:Not only that... (Score:4, Informative)

        by Somegeek (624100) on Tuesday March 25 2008, @02:33PM (#22861596)
        Can you back up the pedophile claim? Thought not. As far as I can tell not one shred of evidence for the claim has ever been found. He was still knighted, after a two year delay caused by these claims. That shows pretty clearly that the claims were investigated and found to be false.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Gamma-ray bursts are given catalogue names based on the date they were discovered. There is no mechanism for naming bursts beyond that. Occasionally a burst is given an informal name. For example, one burst is sometimes called the Superbowl burst because it went off during the Superbowl (which is the name of an annual championship US football game). However, there is nothing official about these names, and the IAU does not recognize them. I like the idea of informally naming GRB 080319B after Sir

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