The Milky Way's black hole may spring to life in 2013 • Hacker News Board

Re: The Milky Way's black hole may spring to life in 2013

#41

Post by awj » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 6:35 AM UTC

bakedbeing wrote: post #31

awj wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I send a slow, waddling mobster to go break your kneecaps, are you affected when I give the order or two weeks later when Guido knocks on your door?

Only if gravity moves at the same speed as light, right? It sounds like we've been observing energy emissions (light) rather than directly observing it's gravitational impact on us.

My understanding (note: I am not a physicist, this is not a physics lesson) agrees with ars, gravity has to move at the same speed as light.

In either case, the energy emissions potentially are enough, if they're directed at us and strong enough.

Re: The Milky Way's black hole may spring to life in 2013

#42

Post by ypcx » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 6:44 AM UTC

This is absolutely shockingly awesome. (No I don't use these words often at all.) Based on the non-mainstream scientific evidence, the coming radiation has the power to completely reconfigure our DNA, and in fact all DNA/RNA on Earth's surface. This is what had been predicted by numerous ancient cultures including Mayans, and badly misinterpreted as the end of the world, or end of the times. If you don't happen to be a hardline mainstream scientist, I really recommend picking up this book, if for nothing else, then for all the absolutely shocking scientific research it references: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0525952047/

Re: The Milky Way's black hole may spring to life in 2013

#43

Post by extension » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 7:22 AM UTC

rufibarbatus wrote: post #36

rbanffy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's correct. But never forget the idea of a "now" is deeply tied to a "here".

Implying whatever happened so many thousand years ago will have an impact here at about the same time we observe it happening from here? (I.e. light coming from that time and direction arrives here at about the same time as whatever implication this has to us does.) If so, what kinds of implications would this have to us? Is this quasar radiation merely an observable thing, or could it disturb communications or somet…

Essentially, it's meaningless to say that two things are absolutely happening at the same time in different places. There is no such thing as "meanwhile, somewhere else". Or at best, it's a very limited model.

When we observe the light from an event is when it actually happens, from our perspective, for all intents and purposes. Kinda screws up our whole way of thinking, but this is how the universe actually works.

Re: The Milky Way's black hole may spring to life in 2013

#44

Post by swombat » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 7:46 AM UTC

hendler wrote: post #7

william42 wrote: post #4

Considering the lightyears involved, I assume this means we'll see it in 2013?

Was thinking the same thing. Depending on how you think about space-time it "is" happening 27,000 years go. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way#Galactic_Center

Or rather, it is happening now 27k light-years away.

Re: The Milky Way's black hole may spring to life in 2013

#45

Post by Tuna-Fish » Thu, Dec 15, 2011, 11:12 AM UTC

davidhansen wrote: post #10

That may be about to change, however. Astronomers have spotted a cloud of gas with a mass about three times that of Earth that's on a trajectory that will have it pass close to Sgr A in 2013* If this is for real, I am ridiculously humbled by the power of modern astronomy. It's pretty damned amazing to me that we have the ability to detect the location, dimension, and trajectory of a mere 3 earth-masses of thin, amorp…

This is the public webcast of the ESO VLT on the issue. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFLkewQIzoA&feature=youtu...

I'd just like to point out that seeing that cloud isn't actually nearly as hard as getting direct observations of planets around other stars. The cloud is very brightly lit by all the stars around it, and is far enough from other light sources that you can just point a telescope at it without needing any tricks. Contrast this to looking at much dimmer planets that are very close to very bright stars. And we've been able to do that for big enough planets since 2008.