Discussion of Eta Carinae

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by diadmon, Oct 1, 2001.

  1. diadmon Registered Member

    Messages:
    1
    I've been looking around for some time for websites and current information on Eta Carinae to no avail. Yes, there is old data out there, but considering the possible threat of Eta Carinae I'm shocked that there isn't a website devoted to the release of new data! For those of you that don't know, Eta Carinae is a potential Hypernovae candidate and it is sitting in Earth's backyard, a mere 8-10k light years from us in the southern hemisphere. Hypernovae are candidates for the phenomenon known as GRB's (gamma ray bursts). If Eta Carinae is moving into hypernovae stage (it's been brightening considerably since it last went supernova back in the 1800's), and, if hypernovae are responsible for GRB's, the entire southern hemisphere of the Earth may be slated for sterilization. I think it's time for us to take this threat with some degree of seriousness. For all we know, Eta Carinae may have already gone Hypernova! Your thoughts and any links are appreciated.

    Tyler Jordan
     
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  3. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    Welcome to Sciforums, diadmon. There is a picture there of Eta. it is in the form of an attachment.


    http://www.sciforums.com/t2908/s/thread.html

    5/06/01 was the date of the post. It shows just how much volume passes through. I think it is on the 6th or 7th page of this forum.
     
    Last edited: Oct 1, 2001
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  5. Pollux V Ra Bless America Registered Senior Member

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    There's nothing on the southern side-no technology, humungous cities-if it were on the north side I'd pack my bags right now!

    However, I think if there really is a danger that the astronomers would know about it. They're pretty smart, and have a huge attention span. I put my faith in them.

    Gamma Ray Bursts are pretty scary. Could be a weapon of the future. I think I'll add that to my book.
     
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  7. wet1 Wanderer Registered Senior Member

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    Another thing of interest, the HST regularly takes return shots of Eta Carinae to keep check on it. I think it is a once a month thing according to one of the camera men who operate the HST.
     
  8. kmguru Staff Member

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    11,757
    If we are bombarded with massive gamma rays that our magnetic field can not protect, I doubt much can be done about it except going under water perhaps. It will take a few years of steady rise and we can monitor at what level it becomes dangerous.

    Move the entire Australia, Argentina population to North?
     
  9. daktaklakpak God is irrelevant! Registered Senior Member

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    As I recalled from what I read in Astronomy magazine some years ago, GRB has a kill radius of 3000 lightyears. And the most likely candidate for GRB is a binary neutron star system.
     
  10. John Devers (AVATAR) Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
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    Have a look at this article.

    <A HREF="http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/0110162" target=new><FONT COLOR=blue size=+1> GRBs from Eta Carina may wipe us out
    </FONT></A>


    Here are the optical and xray views from Chandra.

    <A HREF="http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/chronological.html" target=new><FONT COLOR=blue size=+1> Chandra telescope pictures.
    </FONT></A>

    <img src="http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/0099/0099_optical_lg.jpg">

    <img src="http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/0099/0099_xray_lg.jpg">
     

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