Death Star could pose threat to Earth

[Matty P]

Very interesting! Have a read of this.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23316468-952,00.html

"University of Sydney astronomer Peter Tuthill discovered the elegant rotating pinwheel system, named WR104, eight years ago in the constellation Sagittarius.

It includes a highly unstable star known as a Wolf-Rayet, widely regarded by astronomers as ticking bombs – the last stop in a star’s life before a cataclysmic supernova explosion."

:eyepop:

[Peter Kalan]

Interesting.... I wonder if its the planet Nibiru that collides with earth and causes pole shift as mentioned in the ancient sumarian texts\egyptian and aztec texts...

[bojan]

And I was worried about eta Carinae...

[Matty P]

Just a question...

If WR104 explodes as a supernova. How long would it take the gamma rays to reach earth?

[bojan]

7000 years...
But it is irrelevant, because for us it will explode when we see it exploded... and the gamma rays travel at the speed of light.
But there is hope:
Maybe the orbital plane is perpendicular to the line of sight, but who says the rotational axis of the star is not tilted?
So this aim of 1° accuracy they are mentioning in the text does mean a lot.. it could be much more. In whicjh case the beam will not hit us directly.. and even if it does, there is nothing we can do,
So lets continue to enjoy this wonderful hobby, astronomy :-)
And everything else :-)