OT: Here's a happy thought...

[geoschmo]

I was reading this article about Wolf-Rayet (http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080310/sc_space/realdeathstarcouldstrikeearth) , a binary star system which could potentially send a "Gamma Ray Burst" our way some day.

It occurred to me that this star could have gone nova at any point in the last 8,000 years. The rays which could be our doom could be at this second speeding towards us at 186,000 miles a second, and we wouldn't know it till they got here.

To think we may have already been killed by a gun fired at the dawn of human civilization, only we don't know it yet.

Dead planet walking. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Atrocities]

Ya that was on FOX news yesterday too. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif Oh well, looks like the universe is out to get us.

[Ed Kolis]

I bet the nova was triggered by the Xiati... they used their temporal technology to detect the virulent nature of humanity and decided to wipe us out before we spread to the stars! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Oh wait, that sounds an awful lot like a story arc on "Enterprise"... heck, the aliens in that series were called the Xindi, weren't they??? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

[AgentZero]

Atrocities said:
Ya that was on FOX news yesterday too. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif Oh well, looks like the universe is out to get us.



This cheers me up considerably. If Fox News is telling me to worry about something, odds are it's something I don't need to worry about.

And it's not like I'll ever know if I was wrong.

[Randallw]

I read a short story once where mankind was conquering the galaxy so an alien race captured one of our ships to find where Earth was and sent a ship back through time with orders to destroy Earth. However instead of targetting the 3rd planet from the sun they targeted the 6th planet in. Which is why we have the asteroid belt.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

No point in worrying about things I can't change.

[Randallw]

As the philosopher, who was a Cynic, a Stoic and a Epicurean, said

"You can't trust a person as far as you can throw them, but what can you do about it?. Nothing, so why worry. You're buying?, mines a pint. Thanks"

[Fyron]

AgentZero said:
This cheers me up considerably. If TV News is telling me to worry about something, odds are it's something I don't need to worry about.


There, fixed that for ya.

[AgentZero]

Thanks Fy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[dmm]

Randallw said:
I read a short story once where mankind was conquering the galaxy so an alien race captured one of our ships to find where Earth was and sent a ship back through time with orders to destroy Earth. However instead of targetting the 3rd planet from the sun they targeted the 6th planet in. Which is why we have the asteroid belt.


You mean the 5th planet. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, asteroids, Jupiter, ....
But anyway, are you telling us that "Star Trek: First Contact" stole its plot from a short story? I am shocked --shocked!

[Suicide Junkie]

6th inwards: Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Planet-Ex.

Counting planets is tricky business. Best to specify the target as the one with the most ugly monkeys on it.

[Fyron]

Counting the belt, the 6th planet inwards is Mars. Pluto isn't a planet. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Of course, doesn't the asteroid belt have something like 5% the mass of Earth's moon? Not a very likely remnant of a destroyed planet if you ask me.

[se5a]

if you destroyed a planet... how much of it would end up staying it that orbit?

[Suicide Junkie]

Fyron said:
Counting the belt, the 6th planet inwards is Mars. Pluto isn't a planet. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Ah, but it was.

And that just emphasizes my point http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Picture. A picture would help a lot. Especially a 3d one.

(With knowing which planet to attack)

[Fyron]

se5a said:
if you destroyed a planet... how much of it would end up staying it that orbit?


I'd wager most of it would stay in the same general orbital region. Some pieces would fly out orthogonally and enter highly elliptical orbits, but I'd wager that most of the pieces would not be given divergent enough velocities to do much other than increase or decrease the orbital distance by a small margin.

[dmm]

#1: Make sure you have the right planet.

[Renegade 13]

Fyron said:
I'd wager most of it would stay in the same general orbital region. Some pieces would fly out orthogonally and enter highly elliptical orbits, but I'd wager that most of the pieces would not be given divergent enough velocities to do much other than increase or decrease the orbital distance by a small margin.


Huge amount of anti-matter. The planet was mostly converted to energy when the anti-matter 'bomb' contacted the planet!

[AngleWyrm]

Oh, and quarks.
Quarks would turn the interstellar space foam into black holes, and suck away some of the planet.
And they'de do it by barking.
Barking Quarks.

--
I put down my ruler, picked up my TextBook, and recited "Yea, Hallowed Halls, I believe!"