I assume this flare isn't happening now considering light takes a while to travel. How long ago did this happen? And why does it matter? :shrug: The Crab Nebula, the dusty remains of an exploded star, has unleashed a surprisingly massive flare that is five times more powerful than any eruption previously seen from the celestial object, leaving scientists struggling to explain the event, NASA says. The so-called "superflare" was detected on April 12 by NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, which is continuously mapping the sky in gamma ray wavelengths in search of gamma-ray bursts, the brightest explosions in the universe. The Crab Nebula's strong outburst lasted six days, and its exact cause has scientists scratching their heads, especially since the superflare followed an earlier gamma-ray flare from the nebula in January. "These superflares are the most intense outbursts we've seen to date, and they are all extremely puzzling events," said Alice Harding at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in a statement. "We think they are caused by sudden rearrangements of the magnetic field not far from the neutron star, but exactly where that's happening remains a mystery." The outburst observed by Fermi was likely triggered by electrons with energies 100 times greater than can be achieved in any particle accelerator on Earth, scientists said. This makes them the highest-energy electrons known to be associated with any galactic source. Based on the rise and fall of gamma rays during the April outbursts, scientists estimate that the size of the emitting region must be comparable to our entire solar system.
it is about 6500 light years away so these bursts happened 6500 years ago. i don't think it matters as such it is just a puzzling event.
thanks Boris Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! so, for all we know, the Crab Nebula could be gone
The Nebula is a structure of gases many light years across. I doubt it's gone. However, something massive might have impacted the neutron star at the center of the Nebula.
See beautiful photo of the Crab and discussion of the Gamma ray flare here: http://www.sciforums.com/showpost.php?p=2752081&postcount=5 with link to even more details. Also a Video all interested in astronomy should watch at: http://www.flixxy.com/hubble-ultra-deep-field-3d.htm
Moderator should move his post to "jokes and funny stories" thread as there is no evidence for Christ as a God, etc. but speed of light delays is well measured, etc. It appears that this new member has been chosen (by grace?) to be Sciforum's leading dumbell. AFAIK, none other can match his ignorance.
An impact is extremely unlikely. It, the residual neutron star, is a 30 pulse / second pulsar and that extremely steady pulse rate (related to the spin and thus the angular momentum) has not changed. I think much more likely as suggested is some sort of flip in its strong magnetic field that accelerated electrons to essentially the speed of light, but they still curve (a radiating acceleration even at constant speed) in the B field, so are producing the gamma rays.
Not sure it is relevant, but earth's has flipped at least a dozen times. Read about the magnetic record in the mid Atlantic ridge.
