from the Grumpy-got-tired-of-hearing-Sneezy-and-KaPow! dept.
When white dwarf meets brown dwarf, pow!
In the 1600s, western astronomers were just emerging from centuries of medieval thought, when the heavens were thought to be unchanging. You can imagine their astonishment when – in July of 1670, in what had been a blank, dark sky – some observers witnessed a bright pinprick of light that appeared, faded, reappeared, and then disappeared entirely from view. At that time, astronomers called such an event a nova or new star. This one was located in front of the constellation Cygnus the Swan and so received the name Nova sub Capite Cygni (a New Star below the Head of the Swan). Modern astronomers have learned it wasn't a new star. It wasn't even a spectacular collision of two main-sequence stars, as announced in 2015. Instead, using data from the ALMA telescope in Chile, astronomers now believe the event was a collision between an aging white dwarf star and a brown dwarf (star with too little mass to ignite thermonuclear fusion and thereby shine as most stars do).
The object in question is now called CK Vulpeculae.
The new work is based on observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in northern Chile. The astronomers studied the debris from this explosion, which takes the form of dual rings of dust and gas resembling an hourglass with a compact central object (see image at top). Sumner Starrfield of Arizona State University is a co-author on a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. He said in a statement:
It now seems what was observed centuries ago was not what we would today describe as a classic 'nova.' Instead, it was the merger of two stellar objects, a white dwarf and a brown dwarf. When these two objects collided, they spilled out a cocktail of molecules and unusual isotopes, which gave us new insights into the nature of this object.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Thursday October 18 2018, @02:11AM (9 children)
This whole "emerging from medival thought" thing in the summary I mean.
I hope my society can do that someday.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday October 18 2018, @02:30AM (7 children)
You can read, so there is hope. Surely a few more members of your society can also read?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday October 18 2018, @03:30AM (5 children)
Strictly speaking, he kan reed!
Your assumption on the meaning of that sequence of letters may be unfounded.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Thursday October 18 2018, @04:07AM (4 children)
What, has Orktober [warhammer-community.com] permeated into SoylentNews as well now?
(Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Thursday October 18 2018, @04:14AM (3 children)
I reckon the Novaember is more on the topic of the present story.
But... let's not anticipate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday October 18 2018, @06:51AM (2 children)
Oh, how tiresome it becomes! Nova is new, novem is nine. Different words in Latin, which since it is the pater language of Romanian, um, you should have known?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @09:22AM
You not understanding the joke? Yes, that's tiresome.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday October 18 2018, @09:41AM
i'll defer the etymology to your vast erudition, magister.
I'm only mocking a language that's not my own and it will never be, so what do I have to lose?
So here, raise a glass of retsina in the honour of the terrible wrong Novæmber - I just sacrificed a word in two languages on the altar of Seth or whatever god of chaos you want
Maybe I should, maybe I shouldn't, how the heck would I know? I feel not bound to be correct or relevant.
Not only it become tiresome after a while, but one also loses the ideation generative juices of being wrong on purpose and see what other angles this can reveal. The trick is to be conscious you are likely to be wrong and not linger in one kind of wrong for long.
Remember, magister, the risk of answers - especially the right ones - they have big potential to kill. How many people can answer to "What do you want to eat next" after they just had a heavy meal?
Besides, what makes you so sure "unadulterated reality" and "be true all the time" is what the humanity needs?
"And ignorance is, first of all, this false identification of Reality with what each one of us appears to be or to possess." Think if the proposal of the hierophany as necessary for humans may not be actually valid, as "wrong" as it may be. Maybe the feeling of the mythological sacred is necessary for the human species?
(When did you say was the last time you spend some winter months in Μετέωρα?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by edIII on Thursday October 18 2018, @08:07PM
I hear others can even spell, but that is abserd.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 18 2018, @04:51AM
I was going to post something snarkier, but google indicates you're not completely full of shit! Way to go!
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday October 18 2018, @02:30AM (25 children)
The first Nova didn't roll off the line until almost three hundred years after 1670.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday October 18 2018, @02:52AM (18 children)
Latin: nova, as in English "novel", new, unique.
Spanish: nova, more properly, no va, as in "doesn't go". See: General Motors products.
(The proper Spanish for the Latin would be "nuevo", as in "nuevos rancheros". )
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by c0lo on Thursday October 18 2018, @03:49AM (17 children)
And the semantics and spelling in different languages is relevant exactly how?
Not saying that the Buzz'es post makes a relevant or on-topic comment, but... really... do we need to continue a lame pun with irrelevant etymological considerations when we could have instead a nice aristarchus' story to comment on?
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2, Funny) by aristarchus on Thursday October 18 2018, @05:57AM (12 children)
I must say, there is nothing like an Australian after they have become angry at Nazis and their allies. The attack on Darwin is a case in point. And to see your own government go so entirely alt-right? That is something that only American and Kiwis could sympathize with. But back to the point. Ignorance like TMB's, whether in fact or in pun, is what is destroying civilization. Intentional ignorance, like khallow saying he is not sure that Anthropogenic Global Warming is real, is also delsutory. Or that of TMB, only able to relate science to models of automobiles (so American, that! At least he could have chose a Plymouth Satellite!). But in either case, the dumbing down of the English speaking world, as if the Bruces were not bad enough already.
So, c0lo, master that you are, is there any hope for the land down under? Jim Jefferies, and Lucy Lawless (not to mention Mel Gibson, whom I will not mention) have all gone states-side. But the alt-right seems to have the "Shrimp on the Barbie" nation in its sights. Does Australia have the resources to withstand the Brexit Anschluss?
And, yes, it would be nice to have an aristarchus submission to comment on, perhaps something about dictionaries, very non-inflammatory and edifying, but it seems that the #Freearistarchus!!! movement needs a bit more of a push? I recommend mocking and ridiculing the editors, calling out their bubble and Americo-centric bias, even though that will just drive them closer to janrinock and his pro-Brexit cronies. SoylentNews is doomed. But then, I have said this many times. And khallow is still here.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by c0lo on Thursday October 18 2018, @07:01AM (10 children)
Context, magister, context. Learning needs one, and S/N is not a good one for TMB.
In his mind, he controls this space. An authoritarian never learns from the subjects under his authority, learning from the master is what's expected from them subjects.
Do you get it yet, subject aristarchus?
If that amuses you, by all means. Otherwise, see above.
You give the TMBians too much credit They are bruces themselves and love the bliss of simple-mindness.
They may even become aggressive if you try to shake them out from this state.
Maybe there is - most of the people around me mocked the stupidity of those trolled.
But then again, what the hell do I know about others?
Maybe there is [bbc.com], maybe there isn't [wikipedia.org] (I used an oldish event to show the undercurrents aren't a recent acquisition)
Fortunately, things like droughts and catastrophic floods and bush fires inject some doses of reality in the public mindset.
Yes it is. Enjoy the ride while it lasts, get off when you can't enjoy it any more.
Trying to change the mindset of authoritarians who feel they have something to demonstrate is a waste of time. They know they are right, this is a settled matter for them. Too bad if it is not so for you and me or anyone else, not their problem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by aristarchus on Thursday October 18 2018, @07:23AM (4 children)
"Subject aristarchus"? Surely you know that #Freearistarchus!!! is snark. I am free, and have always been, being a Greek and a scholar and whatnot. But I can recommend my strategy for escaping the authoritarians, of whom we have had our lot in Greece, from Polycrates on Samos, to Pisistradus in Athens, and Alexander over us all, and many domestic and foreign rulers throughout time: don't die! I have escaped many tyrants by outliving them. But more importantly, I have freed my mind, so that the longevity strategy was not really even necessary.
(Score: 3, Informative) by c0lo on Thursday October 18 2018, @10:20AM (1 child)
Just the place... I have said it thrice:
What I tell you three times is true.
See? The truth is easy and will set you free.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @02:10PM
See, magister? On this site even the hunting for the snark is considered redundant. Oh, the agony in a fyte.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 19 2018, @01:29AM (1 child)
We're on to your secrets of immortality! I'll bet you regularly consume shrooms [wikipedia.org]!
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Saturday October 20 2018, @10:20AM
Making decisions based on faulty probabilities, and believing that tax cuts create economic growth and even higher tax revenues, is how most previous civilizations have fallen. Bet ya, ha! One born every minute.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday October 18 2018, @10:12AM (4 children)
If I controlled this space there would be a lot more pictures of boobs.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday October 18 2018, @10:39AM (3 children)
(◡)(◡) or ◎γ◎?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday October 18 2018, @12:02PM (1 child)
( o Y o )
I love big-uns best.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @02:03PM
✦⃝Y✦⃝
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @02:41PM
Goddammit I hate unicode!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 18 2018, @03:54PM
Obvious rebuttal. [soylentnews.org] Do you really have nothing better to do with your time than ineptly troll?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 18 2018, @03:34PM (3 children)
This. Triggering on "it is OK to be white" is a beautiful propaganda gift to white supremacists. It's sad to see people so unaware of the consequences of action. But maybe after they've been trolled for a few years, they'll figure it out.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday October 18 2018, @04:03PM (2 children)
"Innocence lost", you say.
It is one possible outcome, but there are many others and not all of them as pleasant [twitter.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday October 18 2018, @08:56PM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 20 2018, @10:24AM
It's NOT OK to be White, because there is no "white" race, because race is actually culture, and I'll be damned if I want to equate my High German purity with some mongrel Englishman! So, take that, khallow, you spawn of inferior races, and genders, and college degrees.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @03:42AM (4 children)
Was it owned by a brown dwarf?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday October 18 2018, @03:58AM (2 children)
No, by a white (electron degenerated) one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @07:27AM (1 child)
White Dwarf (Matt Heimbrook) by a Brown Dwarf? Do I sense a certain cense of incest here in the astrophysical Traditional Workers [thedailybeast.com] White Dwarf Supremacist Trailer Park Menage a Trois?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @09:45AM
+1 Jazzy impro pun
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday October 18 2018, @10:14AM
Aren't they called little people nowadays?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Thursday October 18 2018, @08:42PM
Maybe it was a BROWN [youtube.com] dwarf?
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Thursday October 18 2018, @08:21AM
When asked about the encounter, the brown dwarf declared "APPELLAVIT ME NIGRVM"
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Gaaark on Thursday October 18 2018, @10:13AM
"some observers witnessed a bright pinprick"
What's midget wrestling got to do with pinpricks-- AH! I get it now!
Hahaha, good one! :)
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @10:31AM (4 children)
Does anyone else find the terms "dwarf" and "brown" offensive? It's 2018 and we can do better. What about miniature star? And did it fail to light up because it is brown? Only bright white is successful? That's downright offensive.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday October 18 2018, @11:35AM (3 children)
Congratulations, you offered the laziest and most predictable jokes ever.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday October 18 2018, @01:42PM (1 child)
Still waiting for one about the white one killing the brown one for reasons. I'd offer one up but can't think of one. I'll just wait until Fark gets ahold of this news.
My ducks are not in a row. I don't know where some of them are, and I'm pretty sure one of them is a turkey.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday October 18 2018, @11:12PM
> Still waiting for one about the white one killing the brown one for reasons. I'd offer one up but can't think of one.
The only reason was self defense.
(don't worry about your skin tone, meatbag, you all will look the same after we're done with you)
Account abandoned.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 18 2018, @02:49PM