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Space Travel

Discussion in 'Alley of Dangerous Angles' started by Beren, Sep 15, 2011.

Page 2 of 2

  1. pplr Gems: 18/31
    Latest gem: Horn Coral

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    Remove all ads!
    I know the Sun isn't about to die yet but, correct me if I'm wrong, it'll change in a few hundred thousand years and the amount of energy/heat it sends to the Earth will increase notably.

    Also while I know many people think about getting eaten by a black hole when the topic comes up my mentioned concern relates to the fact that black holes shoot out mega gama ray bursts when eating a lot. And it is when 2 galaxies are near colliding that the super black holes in each are likely to eat more.

    So our galaxy could be shot by the other galaxy's super black hole prior to the combination of the two.
     
    pplr, Sep 19, 2011
    #21
  2. Aldeth the Foppish Idiot

    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot Armed with My Mallet O' Thinking Veteran

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    I have not heard anything about that. As far as I'm aware, the sun's energy output has been fairly stable for hudreds of millions of years, and is expected to continue to be hundreds of millions of years from now. The sun is only about at it's mid-point in terms of its life.

    OK, but the ETA for Andomeda is 4.5 billion years. Lets say they are way off, and the one galaxy starts "eating" the other galaxy a billion years from now. Or that the sun "only" has a billion years left, and not 5 billion. Those things are not high on my list of things to worry about.

    Given that there are numerous craters on earth from asteroid and comet impacts, I'd say we have a much greater chance of going to way of the dinosaurs in the same method that the dinosaurs went sometime in the next 5 billion or so years than the sun frying us or falling into a black hole, or being hit by a gama ray burst.
     
    Aldeth the Foppish Idiot, Sep 19, 2011
    #22
  3. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    You’re overlooking the Vogon plans to destroy the Earth in order to make way for an intergalactic highway. :(
     
    Splunge, Sep 19, 2011
    #23
    Montresor likes this.
  4. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    Hey, now, we're talking poetry here.

    Oh freddled gruntbuggly
    thy micturations are to me
    As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee.
     
    dmc, Sep 19, 2011
    #24
  5. Blades of Vanatar

    Blades of Vanatar Vanatar will rise again Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    DMC, please send me some of whatever you are drinking....
     
    Blades of Vanatar, Sep 19, 2011
    #25
  6. dmc

    dmc Speak softly and carry a big briefcase Staff Member Distinguished Member ★ SPS Account Holder Resourceful Adored Veteran New Server Contributor [2012] (for helping Sorcerer's Place lease a new, more powerful server!)

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    What's this??!!! An apostate who has never read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy??!!

    Someone strap Blades into a Vogon poetry appreciation chair and let's get started . . .
     
    dmc, Sep 20, 2011
    #26
  7. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Alrighty, then:

    See, see the arthritic sky
    Marvel at its big mauve depths.
    Tell me, dmc do you
    Wonder why the BoV ignores you?
    Why its foobly stare makes you feel blah.
    I can tell you, it is
    Worried by your splungerific facial growth
    That looks like
    A butter.
    What's more, it knows
    Your shih tzu potting shed
    Smells of booger.
    Everything under the big arthritic sky
    Asks why, why do you even bother?
    You only charm cockroaches.

    Courtesy of here. (You don't actually have to give an email address.)

    And after Blades is writhing in agony, we can continue the torture by poking him with the comfy pillows. (I know, I'm drifting into Monty Python, but anyway...)
     
    Splunge, Sep 20, 2011
    #27
    T2Bruno likes this.
  8. Blades of Vanatar

    Blades of Vanatar Vanatar will rise again Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Damn, missed the reference. Shame on me! It's been a long time since I experienced THGTTG.
     
    Blades of Vanatar, Sep 20, 2011
    #28
  9. Montresor

    Montresor Mostly Harmless Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder

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    Back on topic, recent results from Cern indicate that neutrinos may travel faster than light (if only by 20 ppm):

    http://press.web.cern.ch/press/pressreleases/Releases2011/PR19.11E.html

    The result indicates that the speed of light is not an absolute barrier, at least for neutrinos.

    (My money is on that they will find a flaw in the experiment.)
     
    Montresor, Sep 23, 2011
    #29
  10. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    OK, as usual, I'm confused. How is "parts per million" a measurement of velocity?
     
    Splunge, Sep 23, 2011
    #30
  11. Montresor

    Montresor Mostly Harmless Staff Member ★ SPS Account Holder

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    They mean they have measured speeds that are 20 millionth faster than the speed of light, or C x 1.000020. So it is not a measure of velocity but of relative difference in velocity.
     
    Montresor, Sep 23, 2011
    #31
  12. Splunge

    Splunge Bhaal’s financial advisor Adored Veteran Pillars of Eternity SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!) Torment: Tides of Numenera SP Immortalizer (for helping immortalize Sorcerer's Place in the game!)

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    Ah, OK. Although I have to wonder why the hell they just couln't have said that. The only times I have heard PP(x) being used is in relation to concentrations.
     
    Splunge, Sep 23, 2011
    #32
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