Delta4Embassy
Gold Member
Naked-Eye Gamma-ray Burst Aimed Directly at Earth - NASA Science
"NASA's Swift satellite detected the explosion - formally named GRB 080319B - at 2:13 a.m. EDT on March 19, 2008, and pinpointed its position in the constellation Bootes. The gamma-ray burst became bright enough to see even without a telescope. Observations of the event by a global array of satellites and ground-based observatories have since given scientists the most detailed portrait of a burst ever recorded.
Within the next 15 seconds, the burst brightened enough to be visible in a dark sky to human eyes. It briefly crested at a magnitude of 5.3 on the astronomical brightness scale. Incredibly, the dying star was 7.5 billion light-years away."
Lethal gamma-ray burst from star WR 104 could reach earth
This one's pointed at us and just 8,000ly away.
"Astronomers say WR 104, a Wolf-Rayet star about 8000 light years away, could go supernova any day, which would generate gamma-rays that could reach earth.
"We could see it go supernova anywhere from tomorrow to 500,000 years from now," astronomer Grant Hill told Forbes.
"For all intents and purposes, the gamma-ray burst and optical photons from the supernova would arrive simultaneously.""
In other words, by the time we know it's fired a GRB at us, we're already in the process of being hit by it. But of all the things in the universe capable of killing all life on Earth, this is one of a very few that qualifies. And while a blackhole's destruction is complete, there's no black holes in our vicinity at the moment. But there is a star which has discharged GRB before pointed right us.
Welcome to my world.
