4 ms·
Supernova shoots a dying star made of metal out of Milky Way at 2M MPH
- infradig 5y agoNote: this is the Astronomy definition of metal... There's Hydrogen, Helium and then there's metals.
- gnulinux 5y agoWhy is this definition useful in astronomy? Why can't they just say something like "non period 1 element" (NPO element) in order not to cause accidental confusion with other branches of science?
- iwwr 5y agoJust that by volume/mass hydrogen and helium make like 99% of what's out there :)
- Gravityloss 5y agoGood question. It's all about context, which I don't know that well. But these kind of things pop up everywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_tolerance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering_tolerance
- redis_mlc 5y agoSome info on the word metal as used in astronomy: https://briankoberlein.com/post/hydrogen-helium-metal/ https://briankoberlein.com/post/hydrogen-helium-metal/ The short answer is that the fraction of metal is so low, they don't care enough to call it something else.
- pontifier 5y agoSo I wonder if there is a black hole or neutron star headed the other way at 2M MPH. It's a slightly terrifying thought that such objects could exist.
- perl4ever 5y agoIs a neutron star on a collision course with you at 560 mi/s more terrifying than one approaching at, say, 10 mi/s?
- Communitivity 5y agoFor those wondering, this is 1/335th of the speed of light. Generally relativistic effects start being significant at around 10% speed of light, so no significant relativistic effects from this, I think.
- weare138 5y agoYeet!