For those of us who read Larry Niven's sci-fi novels, this headline is… both amusing and somewhat scary.
And for those of us who do not, can you elaborate as to why exactly?
Not long ago, the center of the Milky Way exploded
31–40 of 121 posts
Re: Not long ago, the center of the Milky Way exploded
#32For those of us who read Larry Niven's sci-fi novels, this headline is… both amusing and somewhat scary.
And for those of us who do not, can you elaborate as to why exactly?
I believe the story referenced is "At The Core", where stars at the core of the galaxy have gone supernova and thereby started a supernova chain reaction expanding outward from the core into the surrounding stars of the galaxy.
Re: Not long ago, the center of the Milky Way exploded
#33Re: Not long ago, the center of the Milky Way exploded
#34For those of us who read Larry Niven's sci-fi novels, this headline is… both amusing and somewhat scary.
And for those of us who do not, can you elaborate as to why exactly?
In one of Niven's short stories an alien corporation hires a Human pilot to fly to the galactic core. It's a publicity stunt to demonstrate the speed and range of a new FTL drive. When he gets close to the core, his ship is almost fried by the radiation wave front coming from a chain reaction explosion of suns in the galactic core. This drives events in many of Niven's later stories.
The devastation won't reach 'Known Space' for thousands of years, but the alien Puppeteers that funded the trip are paranoid herbivores. They immediately start a mass exodus of their whole species out of the galaxy, causing a massive economic crash along with many effects on other plot lines.
Niven's Known Space future (and past) history is an amazing and incredibly influential achievement. Highly recommended. Most of it consists of collections of short stories and novellas written over decades, so it's very digestible.
Re: Not long ago, the center of the Milky Way exploded
#35Given that we're able to aim telescopes at things that are billions of light years away, I wonder how close we are to being able to see the reflection of such a thing when it actually happens on some celestial body 3.5 million light years away.
Re: Not long ago, the center of the Milky Way exploded
#36I am guessing this would lead to solar system-scale destruction? Putting a base on Mars doesn’t seem like it would do much to counter such an event if it headed our way?
Re: Not long ago, the center of the Milky Way exploded
#37I am guessing this would lead to solar system-scale destruction? Putting a base on Mars doesn’t seem like it would do much to counter such an event if it headed our way?
My opinion is that the idea of a base on Mars is not to somehow secure humanity's position in the Solar System, but to give us something to aim for so we have a reason to pump money into space exploration and aerospace research
Re: Not long ago, the center of the Milky Way exploded
#38I am guessing this would lead to solar system-scale destruction? Putting a base on Mars doesn’t seem like it would do much to counter such an event if it headed our way?
My opinion is that the idea of a base on Mars is not to somehow secure humanity's position in the Solar System, but to give us something to aim for so we have a reason to pump money into space exploration and aerospace research
Don't you think two self-sufficient instances of a civilization separated by a ~dozen light-minutes decreases the risk of species extinction events?
Re: Not long ago, the center of the Milky Way exploded
#39[deleted]
Re: Not long ago, the center of the Milky Way exploded
#40Given that we're able to aim telescopes at things that are billions of light years away, I wonder how close we are to being able to see the reflection of such a thing when it actually happens on some celestial body 3.5 million light years away.
You might be interested in the examples section of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_echo