I can't tell if you're serious or not; how are we supposed to calculate where the center of the galaxy is if we don't know how big it is?
The danger of a nearby gamma ray burst is it would immediately strip the ozone layer, leaving us completely exposed to the full UV of the Sun. It would also potentially disrupt our protective magnetic field, thus exposing us to even more nasty radiation. The initial burst wouldn't kill us; the aftereffects would. 8,000 LY is a borderline case though. If it were within 5000 and blew we'd probably be screwed; 8000 is iffy.
It would not be a pleasant death. Life would probably survive though, even if just certain insects and microscopic forms. Something new would then evolve. Such is the Wheel of Life.
yupp,unless the climate change was so catostrophic,that it dryed out the oceans an turned in to a planet like mars, witch has been a theaory for awhile but i dont buy it,condiontions would have to be pretty fucked to not sustain any life.
I'm quite sure if we look deep enough we'll find life remaining on Mars if it ever existed in the first place. Once life takes hold it's tenacious; even if all complex organisms died there are microscopic forms that life far, far under the Earth's surface. Even in the unlikely event of the seas drying up I'd be willing to bet that some kind of life would keep a foothold for millions of years to come. We're just a blip. Sooner or later we'll be extinct.
are you kidding? life would THRIVE after a couple centuries. Just like burnt forests do after a decade or two. I mean really we've seen it happen... yellow stone!
yea im sure theres some sort of life there,im sure theres life in alot of places in the universe,hopefully ill live long enough to see it,
We really aren't disagreeing. However there remains the chance that an event even more catastrophic than that which led to the great Permian Extinction, 250 million years ago, could occur. Even in the worst case, short of the Earth being utterly vaporized by something, within a few millennia life would most likely be flourshing again. You're correct though. In general there would probably be a huge rebound within a few centuries. It would still take thousands of years for new life forms to evolve to fill the new ecological niches though. There's a huge difference between a forest fire and a mass extinction event. The latter are usually triggered by something so catastrophic that it has wide ranging implications to climate. That takes more than a few centuries to fully adapt to.
not concerned. But the death from the radiation would be slow. It wouldn't be like a nuclear bomb at all, but rather just saturation. As oldschool stated, it would prolly appear more as climate changes. In that case, move the cities underground. Like in the matrix. Radiation can't penetrate rock very well. As for 2012. Bullshit! I know too much about astronomy to believe in this. They are just putting a bunch of bullshit together and making "facts" up as they go along. The planet X crap is just crap. IF there is a planet X out there, then we are already affected by its gravity. The lining up of the solar system with the galaxy? First off, we are lining up on the axis of the galaxy. That's bullshit. We are lining up equatorially. And so what? So we float down into the southern hemisphere of the milky way rather than the northern part and play with our new neighbors down there. nothing is going to happen. I'll see ya'll on 12-22-2012.
a gamma ray burst directed at earth would be fatal for most life. it is not a quick process though. when the burst hits, the first thing to go is the ionosphere, the northern/southren lights would merge as the entire atmoshere becomes charged. the burst would strip away all the earths protection in a matter of hours 12-24. the skys would be colored and radiation would be unsurvivable until the burst eneded. it would take centuries to rebuild. any surviviors (not likely) would be without any modern conviences, since all eletronics would have been fried. no satilites, no radio, no tv, no power, back to basics.
i agree,theres 100 things that could end the world,like a super volcano like mount toba that erupted 70,000 years ago,or some crazy astroid,or some crazy alein ivasion,or a plague,who knows,most likely i wont be here for it. no one really knows whats gonna happen on 2012,but i mean something has to go down,why would so many people put so much attention on to that one date for 1000s of years.
Nobody but the Mayans attached any significance to that date until the New Agers dredged it up and the advent of the Internet allowed silly myths to spread. I'll be firing up a bowl on New Years Day, 2013.
huh? no, its true... in 2012 we will experience the galactic alignment, which only happens ever... 26,000 years i think? The mayans predicted this in their calendar, and scientists say its true, and happening in 2012... we don't know what the consequences, if any, will be. Its basically just when the sun appears to be in the middle of our galaxy
The is no where near the center of the galaxy and never will be! We are located between spiral arms far from the center. We are actually closer to the outside edge than the center. These people are just stringing together a bunch of facts that don't interconnect at all and making shit up to boot. These people know nothing about astronomy. Hear any real astronomers with phd's getting concerned. no. there's a reason for that. People thought y2K was gonna end up being the end of the world for a lot of reason and we're still here bitches! It's gonna be fun in 2013 to see all these people backpeddeling saying they fucked up but its gonna happen in 2112 instead. Ooooo 2112. Great song/album. Maybe Rush are actually prophets!
yes the solar system will pass the centerline of the galaxy in 2012. but it is still on an arm in the backwaters way the fuck from the center of the galaxy, it is crossing its horizion so to speak think of it like a sunrise, it will pass the mean horizion of the galaxy aka rise or set if it were our sun for example