Youngest Galactic Supernova Found, But No Aliens 184
Simon Howes writes "After searching for decades, astronomers have found a supernova in our galaxy! So it wasn't little green men we were waiting for. It's located very near the center of the galaxy, about 28,000 light years away, and it's only at most about 140 years old. Quote from Bad Astronomy: 'If you're wondering what all the buzz has been about the past few days over a NASA discovery, then wait no longer. No, it's not aliens or an incoming asteroid. Instead, it's still very cool: astronomers have found the youngest supernova in the Milky Way.'" FiReaNGeL contributes a link to coverage on e! Science News; I think Wired's account of the super-hyped tele-press-conference is the funniest.
Re:Not to be picky, but... (Score:1, Interesting)
It is standard practice for astronomers and journalists covering astronomy to phrase findings that way. It makes life easier for them, makes for more readable news and allows Trekkies like yourself to show off. It's whatever you "epic fail" dweebs call a win-win situation.
Thank you for not being picky, though.
Re:distance vs age? (Score:4, Interesting)
After years of crunching our most heavy quantum computers, we decoded;
"HELP. WE ARE THE LAST KNOWN SURVIVING SPECIES IN THIS UNIVERSE. HELP. THEY FINALLY HAVE CREATED WEAPONS OF MASS... - NO CARRIER.".
Not so overdue (Score:4, Interesting)
Disclosure: Dr. Reynolds was co-chair of my thesis committee, but I was doing computational astrophysics, not observational.
composite image (Score:2, Interesting)
Relativity of simultaneity (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Real issue here (Score:2, Interesting)
Educate me, please. (Score:2, Interesting)
Seen age vs. "actual" age (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Not so overdue (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Relativity of simultaneity (Score:2, Interesting)
If we didn't take Earth to be our common point of reference, then it would be impossible to come up with any numbers regarding the age of the universe from example. When inquired about when the big bang happened a smart ass scientist could respond: "10 billion or 17 billion years ago, depending from where you are looking."