Huor
14102
280
4
This was spotted in the galaxy NGC 7331 (it's blinking because it's looped).
Every time I read about a supernova, I worry about what might have been lost -- a civilization? Unique life? Who knows?
https://www.threads.com/@cosmic_background
Tobbsdasock
The Hatchling made it to the Eye!
jtxyz
The stars that go super nova probably didn't survive long enough for planets in orbit around them to evolve any sort of life, let alone intelligent. And, odds are it's far enough away from any systems that did that it didn't affect them.
Gotcha44
"...as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced."
Regardless of what might have been lost, this happens long ago, and let's face it: Even if we'd find life elsewhere (or other life finds us), we'll never be able to visit each other.
countbassy
I was told that there would be champagne
datphone777365
The scale though...
Feralkyn
"Every time I read about a supernova, I worry about what might have been lost -- a civilization? Unique life? Who knows?" Ahh man. The bittersweet beauty of sapient life... being able to mourn a hypothetical ecosystem or civilization millions of years in the past, across the immensity of the universe. That's intense.
Nafira
@OP if something was close to a supernova, it had been dead for a long time, whatever it was. The star of a star isn't fast and it inflate so much it each the solar system it holds
Nafira
The death of a star*
TheInternetNeedsMoreCats
Boop!
ChrisTravel
Or what might be created… if there’s one thing that the universe has, it’s time.
filiuspelei
It boggles my mind that that is how all elements hieaveri than iron form
YeastInfectedWhiskerBiscuit
Considering the size of that universe being hundreds of thousands, if not millions of light years wide, the size of that supernova is unimaginably massive.
Rips4w
Thank you for your service.
Jetfuelcanmeltme
For space is wide and good friends too few.
TheobromineAddict
Losing not just civilisations in the supernova's planetary system, but likely causing mass extinction events for any solar system within 30 light years, with serious atmospheric ozone damage out to 50 light years.
TheobromineAddict
By the way, although there are about 1,500 stars within 50 light years of earth, none of them are big enough to create a supernova. Closest candidate is Betelgeuse at about 548 light years and a probable lifetime of 100,000 years. IK Pegasi, a white-dwarf binary about 150 light-years away, is often listed as the nearest potential supernova, IF it can suck a lot more mass down it's gravity well, which doesn't seem to be happening soon.
ongabonga
https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1aWlncWwxeHh3cm1oa3F1ZHV5YXN1ZmFpaXdybDZhdWE1c3Y2Z3kwcSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/ycagKBYEmaili/200w.webp
mistertheloaf
Don't feel bad, it happened 40-45 million years ago
brokehackfourlane
the energy of this- none of the other stars are associated with the galaxy (all are in foreground).
4charactersorlongerwasalreadytaken
Does one count the seconds until the gravitational waves arrive?
Lysergian
Building the complex chemistry for new life.
iteachcalculus
No. It's blinking 'cause it's old and left its turn signal on.
Pace171921
Annnnd... it's gone.
Yellowchopsticks
NotAllowedToArgueUnlessYouPay
RichardPenne
Maybe it killed space hitler. Celebrate!
Imalwaysready
Maybe it was space hitler’s new super weapon being deployed against the last bastions of resistance to his reign.
RichardPenne
mrollings53
Well, it happened millions to billions of years ago. No sense crying over spilt milk.
Base841
44 million years ago.
orp0piru
43.79 million years ago
Tetriz
The opposite really, the explosion fused elements together make new matter.
Funkypeeg
A supernova does not lead to a positive mass balance for the star itself. In fact, it results in a massive loss of matter transformed into energy and radiation. New elements are formed, but a lot of them are also lost.
Tetriz
Sure heat and light and created but all matter is transformed in that instant and everything past iron has been created by a supernova event.
PressMyButtonsBaby
Ah WE'VE CREATED LIIIIIIIFE!!!!!
HillOfBeans
Or, a nice pre-rolled aluminum.
MothMonsterMan
Is anything really lost? Worst case, the atoms combine again into something new.
LlewellyntheLlama
Well, yes. A star was lost and some precious metals created. I don't really think this is a positive or negative situation, rather just 'a' situation, if you get what I mean. (Because I'm struggling to understand myself).
PubMed12927120suckssobad
Well, THAT'S taking the long view
EverNotRelevant
Conservation of mass and energy is a hard law, but it's hard to say if it's immutable throughout the cosmos.
Imalwaysready
Things can be lost AND the atoms can combine into something new. But the ability to combine into something new does not mean that nothing was lost.
Hashbrown123
For now. But eventually there will be nothing left.
MothMonsterMan
I struggle with this thought. I choose to believe science is not certain about that. Our current understanding suggests that is the case, but it's also a huge bummer, so I will believe that there are unknowns to science that could suggest a retraction of the universe or a cyclical time scale, or a multiverse.
Hashbrown123
Don't worry. It won't happen any time soon. If Big Bang to heat death was a 24 hour clock, we are only 30 seconds after midnight.
dashers
It is when you apply information theory to cosmology. Entropy hits hard.
MothMonsterMan
Fucking tell me about it. You know how hard it is to find a therapist who specializes in existentialism AND is secular? It's like finding a specific atom in the entirety of the universe.
dashers
Secular or atheist? I can't imagine the former being that hard, but having someone who specialises in existentialism who doesn't believe - especially in western culture - yeah, I can see that being tricky. Though I'm not sure I understand what interest an atheist would have in existentialism?
Feralkyn
Every single individual lifeform's unique, in terms of its makeup and experiences and the environment in which it's formed. Sure, something new will be. But what was is lost forever
NotAllowedToArgueUnlessYouPay
This has all happened before. It will happen again.
Feralkyn
It might! And if the universe were truly infinite then no single permutation no matter how complex wouldn't be completely replicated... but each instance is still unique
MothMonsterMan
Maybe it isn't. Time could be cyclical.
To an ant the earth is flat. Maybe time is flat to a human because we cannot see or comprehend the scale.
Feralkyn
Wouldn't it just be the same unique individual still? Regardless of time's circle