Man now that is a big explosion as it would take a fair amount of energy to acceralate over 200 times the earth mass to 99.9997% light speed.
So anyone want to figure out how much energy is needed to accerelate that much mass that fast?
Some dying stars smolder into darkness while others quickly shed their coat of hot gases. But some go out with a bang, propelling their remains through the cosmos at more than 99.9997 percent of the speed of light--the maximum speed limit in the universe.
Using a robotic telescope at the European Space Organization's La Silla Observatory in Chile, called the Rapid Eye Mount (REM) telescope, astronomers have measured once-theoretical speeds of the explosions known as gamma-ray bursts for the first time.
"This is very exciting," said Stan Woosley, an University of California astronomer and astrophysicist who was not involved in the research. Woosley said the energy found in the bursts "strain the models" dictating how fast matter can go.
The findings are detailed in the latest issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Rapid observations
The bursts last only seconds to several minutes and their intense energy is at very short wavelengths we can't see, so timing and an automated recording method is critical in order to catch one.
Emilio Molinari, an astronomer with the Brera Astronomical Observatory in Italy and co-author of the study, said the observation was possible thanks to quick, automated observations of major galactic catastrophes.
"We can now study in great detail the very first moments following these cosmic catastrophes," Molinari said.
In two separate events, on April 18 and June 7 of last year, NASA's Swift satellite detected a bright gamma-ray burst and automatically notified the small REM telescope. Just 40 seconds after each explosion, the robotic observer swung around and aimed its lens at the event. Although the initial explosions were invisible at first, the intense energy heated up nearby gas which could be seen in near-infrared light by the telescope.
Warp speed
By studying the changing brightness of both bursts, the astronomers measured how fast matter was careening away from the bursts. Astrophysicists use a special system to peg the speed of matter, called the Lorentz factor--the higher the number, the closer to the speed of light.
In the case of both bursts, the Lorentz factor was 400--an unprecedented observation until now.
Stefano Covino, another co-author of the study and astronomer at the Brera Astronomical Observatory, said the speed wasn't the only impressing figure.
"While single particles ... can be accelerated to still larger velocities, the present cases are the equivalent of about 200 times the mass of the Earth acquiring this incredible speed," Covino said.
"You certainly wouldn't like to be in the way," said Susanna Vergani, another team member.
Now that the team has made the striking observations, they are trying to find some way to explain them. "The next question is which kind of 'engine' can accelerate matter to such enormous speeds," Covino said.
Jesus, a Lorentz contraction factor of 400? The Lorentz factor y = sqrt(1/(1-v^2/c^2)). If y = 400, then v = 0.999996875c. That's really fucking fast. v is too close to c, so the Main Site's relativity calculator won't recognize it. Blindly plugging and chugging by hand, the kinetic energy imparted to these 200 Earths would be some 4e46 J. That's 100 million DS shots.
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Surlethe wrote:Jesus, a Lorentz contraction factor of 400? The Lorentz factor y = sqrt(1/(1-v^2/c^2)). If y = 400, then v = 0.999996875c. That's really fucking fast. v is too close to c, so the Main Site's relativity calculator won't recognize it. Blindly plugging and chugging by hand, the kinetic energy imparted to these 200 Earths would be some 4e46 J. That's 100 million DS shots.
Quess we should harness that instead of hypermatter, granted containment might be a little difficult. So what exactly is this Lorentz factor been quite awhile since I took physics.
Surlethe wrote:Jesus, a Lorentz contraction factor of 400? The Lorentz factor y = sqrt(1/(1-v^2/c^2)). If y = 400, then v = 0.999996875c. That's really fucking fast. v is too close to c, so the Main Site's relativity calculator won't recognize it. Blindly plugging and chugging by hand, the kinetic energy imparted to these 200 Earths would be some 4e46 J. That's 100 million DS shots.
dragon wrote:Quess we should harness that instead of hypermatter, granted containment might be a little difficult. So what exactly is this Lorentz factor been quite awhile since I took physics.
Before Einstein came up with relativity, a mathematician named Lorentz showed that you could explain the results of the Michelson-Morley experiments by assuming that distance is contracted and time is dilated by the same factor. Einstein came along a few years later and derived this factor from first principles.
You know that the values of time, space, mass, etc. change based on the observer, right? The Lorentz factor is the factor by which they change. So suppose I see you moving at 0.8c (which has a Lorentz factor of about 2). You measure any given time interval elapsed as t, a given distance (parallel to your direction of motion) as d, and a given mass as m. I, on the other hand, measure the same time interval as taking 2t to elapse, the distance as d/2, the mass as 2m.
Mathematically, the Lorentz factor is an integral part of equations for transforming from one reference frame to another.
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Surlethe wrote:Jesus, a Lorentz contraction factor of 400? The Lorentz factor y = sqrt(1/(1-v^2/c^2)). If y = 400, then v = 0.999996875c. That's really fucking fast. v is too close to c, so the Main Site's relativity calculator won't recognize it. Blindly plugging and chugging by hand, the kinetic energy imparted to these 200 Earths would be some 4e46 J. That's 100 million DS shots.
Still nowhere near gridfire
Oh shit, not that brainbug again . The 10^55 J number was pulled out of some retard's anal end and has no basis in the books.
Surlethe wrote:Before Einstein came up with relativity, a mathematician named Lorentz showed that you could explain the results of the Michelson-Morley experiments by assuming that distance is contracted and time is dilated by the same factor. Einstein came along a few years later and derived this factor from first principles.
It's not so simple, though what you said can be twisted to be true.
Lorentz and Einstein took the same mathematical assumptions and did roughly the same derivation. Lorentz treated the assumptions as experimental data to be fit, while Einstein treated it them as fundamental principle of nature.
Same derivation, but only one was from first principles, and that basically because it said it was.
Surlethe wrote:Jesus, a Lorentz contraction factor of 400? The Lorentz factor y = sqrt(1/(1-v^2/c^2)). If y = 400, then v = 0.999996875c. That's really fucking fast. v is too close to c, so the Main Site's relativity calculator won't recognize it. Blindly plugging and chugging by hand, the kinetic energy imparted to these 200 Earths would be some 4e46 J. That's 100 million DS shots.
That's... mass-energy conversion of a red dwarf (~.2 solar masses)
here's something that shows we need something even more energetic than matter/anti-matter annihilation, or a way to propel something without propellent even if we were to send something small to proxima centauri within 900 years, no calcs though, it's from Nasa, you be the judge.
I read this on howstuffworks.com that says we could get a solar sail, combined with some other technology, up to 10% lightspeed, though they gave no calcs for that either:
Assuming you could get it that fast, there are problems, How would you slow down at your destination? What about micrometoroids you could hit that would tear right through the sail?
Could we have the solar sail circle around and around the sun until it reaches C or near C? then fling it off into interstellar space?
Shrykull wrote:here's something that shows we need something even more energetic than matter/anti-matter annihilation, or a way to propel something without propellent even if we were to send something small to proxima centauri within 900 years, no calcs though, it's from Nasa, you be the judge.
I read this on howstuffworks.com that says we could get a solar sail, combined with some other technology, up to 10% lightspeed, though they gave no calcs for that either:
Assuming you could get it that fast, there are problems, How would you slow down at your destination? What about micrometoroids you could hit that would tear right through the sail?
The simplest method for slowing a sunjammer would be to reverse sail and use the light-pressure from the target sun to reduce forward momentum.
Micrometeroid damage over the course of a spaceflight has been taken into account. Past a certain range you would not need the sail to be deployed, so you fold it in and store it for the duration of the transit. It has also been proposed that the sails would be made from a self-sealing material which would close up punctures. Such design is already incorporated into the solar panels used by satellites in high orbit.
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. The 10^55 J number was pulled out of some retard's anal end and has no basis in the books.
