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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Never forget that he train is barreling down on Trump, even as he dances on the tracks.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

People are complicated. Love is not.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

“Why isn’t this Snickers bar only a nickel?”

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Star P*r*o*n Open Thread (Wholly SFW)

Star P*r*o*n Open Thread (Wholly SFW)

by Tom Levenson|  June 8, 201111:55 am| 77 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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Update: Title bowdlerized to ease access for some folks for whom the original word threw up cyber road blocks.

Update 2: Phil Plait (aka The Bad Astronomer) uploaded this unspeakably wonderful bit of solar S*&*M — or at least M for our collective delectation:

Update 2.5: Just got a note from someone who came over here from Daily Kos reporting that his Norton suite reported an attempt to install an exploit kit on viewing the solar flare below.  I can’t get that same message — anyone else having a problem?  Let me know.  Let this constitute a warning — and one more report of an issue here and I’ll kill this and work back up the chain.  Thanks all.

Update 2.6: On second thought, with an excess of caution, and after reading this from the June 11 Times, I’ve reloaded the embed information from Youtube.  Alternatively if you want to check it out on the home Youtube site, click through here.

<div align=”center”><iframe width=”425″ height=”349″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/Hyi4hjG6kDM” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

Also note the fine pic links in the comment thread.

_______

Have a look at this latest bit of cosmic eye candy to cross my desk:

What with all the wretchedness that comes from too deep an immersion in the craptastic nature of our politics these days, it is sometimes necessary (for me) just to stop, look up, and enjoy the view.

This is an image of the star-forming region Messier 17, alias the Omega Nebula or the Swan Nebula.  It is the first released pic from data taken by the European Southern Observatory’s new survey telescope, the VST.  It’s not large, as modern telescopes go — 2.6 meters in diameter, or roughly half the diameter of the venerable Palomar 200 inch Hale Telescope.  But it’s been designed as an instrument to make surveys of significant portions of the sky with very high resolution and optical/image quality.  The ‘scope boasts active optics, and delivers its photons to what sounds like the coolest instamatic ever made…with initial results as you see above.

So — enjoy…and chat away.

 

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Previous Post: « What He Said
Next Post: We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars »

Reader Interactions

77Comments

  1. 1.

    Jay in Oregon

    June 8, 2011 at 11:59 am

    This is my favorite nature eye candy to ogle to date; the first picture is jaw-dropping:

    http://blogs.lanacion.com.ar/en-foco/volcanes/postales-de-puyehue/

    This is an older pic but was also pointed out to me:

    http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070205.html

  2. 2.

    R-Jud

    June 8, 2011 at 12:03 pm

    How can you have star porn without the money shot from the sun?

  3. 3.

    Bruce S

    June 8, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Lest we forget in the midst of the GOP’s phony war on the deficits they created, ten years ago today George W. Bush launched his pre-emptive attack on the Democrat’s Weapons of Fiscal Responsibility:

    http://titanicsailsatdawn.blogspot.com/2011/06/ten-years-ago-today-george-bush-attacks.html

  4. 4.

    Brian S

    June 8, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    So I got married last Saturday, and I had to handle the music for the after party (like a reception, but also at our house), and it got me thinking about songs you really don’t want played at a wedding reception. Add your own if you like.

  5. 5.

    Tom Levenson

    June 8, 2011 at 12:08 pm

    @Brian S: Mazal Tov!

  6. 6.

    Yutsano

    June 8, 2011 at 12:09 pm

    @R-Jud: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth than can be dreamed of in your philosophy Horatio…”

    (apologies if I muffed that, but it’s early for me and a kitten is attacking my arm)

    @Brian S: “Kiss This” – Aaron Tippin. Of course that’s more a revenge sort of song but still…

  7. 7.

    slag

    June 8, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    Tom, this may be an un-PC question given your status as a science author, but have you read The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes, by chance? Picked it up at my neighborhood used book store and have found it difficult to put down.

  8. 8.

    Mark S.

    June 8, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    I have a question. Our sun isn’t big enough to supernova. My understanding is it will eject a bunch of stuff and be reduced to a white dwarf. What happens to all the stuff it ejects? Is there enough stuff ejected from the sun to form new stars?

  9. 9.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 8, 2011 at 12:33 pm

    @Brian S:

    “I Got Plenty of Nothin'”

    Oh, and big congrats, by the way! Much happiness to you both.

  10. 10.

    Tom Levenson

    June 8, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    @slag: Have it, have started it, am enjoying it, but have about 3 min. per day right now for discretionary reading, so haven’t got it all in my head.

    I do love this stufff, and Holmes is great. Not un-PC at all.

    @Mark S.: The stuff our sun and other similarly sized stars ejects enters the interstellar medium, along with supernova remnants and, of course, Zerglings. All of the ejecta (except the Zerglings) form the source of “metals” (which to an astronomer is pretty much everything heavier than (lithium/no –)helium (edit). Most of the carbon in stars and planetary systems comes from the puffing off of the outer shells of stars taht don’t go supernova. (Just about everything heavier than iron, basically, comes from supernovae.)

    So, yes, material lost from stars as they evolve to their final burnout does get incorporated into new stars — that’s what you’re looking at, more or less, in the image above. But no, there isn’t a direct line of inheritance in that stuff from our sun gives birth to a single discrete star. Lots more stuff has to happen.

    For a really nice look at a star like our sun delivering a load of the good stuff into the interstellar medium, take a look at this.

  11. 11.

    artem1s

    June 8, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    8 minute balancing act

    http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=jJrzIdDUfT4&vq=medium

    I love how he ends it

  12. 12.

    Southern Beale

    June 8, 2011 at 12:39 pm

    Ha! I saw “star porn” and immediately thought the thread would be about the Anthony Weiner erect cock picture which Andrew Breitbart has now unleashed on the internet.

    Now that Breitbart has, um, blown his wad, maybe this story will finally die down?

  13. 13.

    Southern Beale

    June 8, 2011 at 12:40 pm

    I really can’t believe I can submit a comment with the words “porn,” “erect cock” and “wad” but I can’t write about Naz1’s or Soc1al1sm.

  14. 14.

    Southern Beale

    June 8, 2011 at 12:43 pm

    @Brian S:

    First of all, congratulations!

    … songs you really don’t want played at a wedding reception …

    “Goodbye Earl,” by the Dixie Chicks …

  15. 15.

    El Cid

    June 8, 2011 at 12:44 pm

    Several of my coworkers think we just give way too much money to NASA.

  16. 16.

    eastriver

    June 8, 2011 at 12:45 pm

    NASA has a free iPad app. The pictures are stunning on the iiPad. God’s twitter stream, baby.

  17. 17.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 8, 2011 at 12:47 pm

    @Brian S:

    Congratulations!

    On that list you linked was “Every Breath You Take” by the Police. People actually play that at their weddings, and Sting’s reaction is “well, good luck to you!” with a wink and a smirk.

  18. 18.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 8, 2011 at 12:48 pm

    @El Cid:

    The money could be better used bombing brown people overseas, or, better yet, in Arizona.

  19. 19.

    MikeJ

    June 8, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    @El Cid:

    Several of my coworkers think we just give way too much money to NASA.

    The late GSH.

  20. 20.

    stuckinred

    June 8, 2011 at 12:59 pm

    @eastriver: Thanks!

  21. 21.

    PurpleGirl

    June 8, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    @El Cid: Way back when I was young, this country began space research and projects and the feeling was WE CAN DO STUFF.

    The most dispiriting thing about the last 20-30 years is the feeling of we can’t do anything (but maybe bomb people).

  22. 22.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 8, 2011 at 1:04 pm

    @eastriver:

    God’s twitter stream

    I love that!

  23. 23.

    stuckinred

    June 8, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    Followin this swipe fee cluster fuck?

  24. 24.

    El Cid

    June 8, 2011 at 1:12 pm

    @PurpleGirl: It’s another one of those things in which people use folk ignorance to deduce that NASA gets a huge percentage of the federal government.

    Like foreign aid. Or welfare to poor black people. Or grants to artists.

  25. 25.

    Linda Featheringill

    June 8, 2011 at 1:12 pm

    Very nice picture. Looks great on my desktop.

    Can I complain about the heat? I seem to be having more problems regulating my personal temperature than I used to and this heat is giving me fits. I guess I’m getting cold blooded in my old age and my internal temperature is determined by the external temps.

    NOT looking forward to more of the same in the years ahead.

    On the other hand, I understand that bodies that decide to not grow old manage to stay quite cool. :-)

  26. 26.

    eric

    June 8, 2011 at 1:15 pm

    @Tom Levenson: query…it is my limited understanding that many nebulae are the result of prior large stars having gone bang and that our planetary system is the result of such a event. If I am wrong forgive this question: but if stars die because of the exhaustion of hydrogen fuel (and the exhaustion of helium, etc), what is the source for the hydrogen in the new star, such as the sun? thanks

    peace

  27. 27.

    Poopyman

    June 8, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    @Mark S.: Planetary nebulae.

  28. 28.

    Chat Noir

    June 8, 2011 at 1:22 pm

    @Brian S: Mazel tov, Brian! How about “I’m Not in Love” by 10cc? Every time I hear that song and listen to the words, it makes me cringe.

  29. 29.

    slag

    June 8, 2011 at 1:22 pm

    @Tom Levenson: I hear that. You nerdy-types always have a lot going on. Glad you like it though! I picked it up, coincidentally, just after re-reading Longitude and was pleased to see some characters recur.

    And speaking of nerdy-types, I don’t know how old your kid is, but, regardless, who doesn’t need a probability distribution plushie: http://www.etsy.com/listing/58851298/custom-distribution-plushie? Heck, I’m not a kid or a nerdy-type, but even I might need one of these. Who can resist a smiling Poisson?

  30. 30.

    ET

    June 8, 2011 at 1:27 pm

    My niece was visiting me in DC and we went to the Air & Space Museum and saw the 3-D IMAX movie about fixing Hubble. It was cool – and had pictures like this.

  31. 31.

    Mark S.

    June 8, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    @Tom Levenson:

    and, of course, Zerglings

    Is that nerd porn?

    It’s amazing the wide range of sizes stars come in.

  32. 32.

    Valdivia

    June 8, 2011 at 1:34 pm

    @Brian S:

    happy happy marriage to you. Bad wedding songs? Hmmm. Anything played at my wedding that’s for sure. Though that was so long ago and I rather forget it so won’t be able to enumerate.

  33. 33.

    WereBear

    June 8, 2011 at 1:35 pm

    @Linda Featheringill: You might be short on magnesium. This makes all our electrics works properly.

    I take chelated magnesium.

  34. 34.

    Poopyman

    June 8, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    @eric: Stars don’t go supernova because all of their hydrogen or helium is exhausted. The nuclear reactions sustaining the star is only at its very center. Helium (He) is created during these reactions, and once the H is sufficiently depleted, the star starts converting the He to higher elements. The reactions are exothermic until (IIRC) iron, at which point the nuclear reactions stop. However, those reactions have been in a delicate balance with gravity– the gravitational force supplies the energy needed to start and sustain the reactions, and the reactions prevent the star from collapsing. So once the reactions stop, the star starts collapsing. If the star is massive enough, the reignition of the nuclear process is not enough to stop the collapse, and it keeps collapsing.

    Here’s where my memory fails me (sorry), but a star goes supernova when gravity squeezes the matter to the point where a massive uncontrolled reaction blows the vast majority of the matter off the star while simultaneously creating a slew of higher elements. In fact, this is how all matter higher than iron on the periodic chart gets created. But the majority of the material is from the outer layers of the start, and it remains hydrogen.

    Off the cuff, fairly disorganized, and probably wrong in a couple of spots, but it’s been 35 years since I’ve had an astrophysics course — or needed to use the knowledge, actually.

  35. 35.

    Southern Beale

    June 8, 2011 at 1:37 pm

    @Linda Featheringill:

    I don’t mean to be nosy but if you are having trouble regulating body temperature and it’s not menopause related you might be having pituitary issues. A simple blood test can diagnose it. Next time you go in to the doctor’s office you might mention this to them.

    I bring it up because my sister had a pituitary tumor and only found out after years of misdiagnosis and being told she was crazy and other awful things that she’d probably had this tumor 11 years and needed surgery right away. Of course right away meant after the neurologist went on his 4 week vacation. But I digress.

    Anyway, temperature regulation was one of her symptoms.

  36. 36.

    Chat Noir

    June 8, 2011 at 1:43 pm

    @WereBear: A few weeks ago, I watched your cat how-to-encourage proper litter box usage video. Excellent advice and suggestions! I’m pleased to tell you I do everything you say to do except I did not know about littermint.

    And how is not-so-little-anymore Tristan? My formerly tiny tot, who was about 3-4 weeks old when he found me, is now a healthy 9.5 lb. three-year-old cat. Currently, he’s lounging under the chair on the hardwood floor to keep cool.

  37. 37.

    Mike G

    June 8, 2011 at 1:44 pm

    Amazing what Jesus created in the last 6000 years.
    But it needs a tax cut.

  38. 38.

    Valdivia

    June 8, 2011 at 1:45 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    this exactly. my dad was just this week diagnosed with a tumor of the pituitary but thankfully his Dr very quickly figured it out in just a couple of weeks.

    Can I ask how your sister is doing? I am trying not to freak about the diagnosis and surgery so any info you have would be great.

    And Linda–do get this checked out!

  39. 39.

    Poopyman

    June 8, 2011 at 1:45 pm

    @Poopyman: Or,you could go to the hyperphysics astrophysics page and pick your stellar type and read up on the processes.

  40. 40.

    Bill Murray

    June 8, 2011 at 1:48 pm

    Some other anti-wedding songs

    Poison Pen by the Hoodoo Gurus
    Bitterweet by the Hodoo Gurus

    and of course

    Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division

  41. 41.

    Tom Levenson

    June 8, 2011 at 1:48 pm

    @eric: You’ve got part of the story, but the process of star formation is considerably more complex.

    These two Wikipedia articles, on the stellar life cycle and on star formation are very good introductions to the issues you raise.

    You can see a more whimsical treatment of some of the questions in a film I directed a few years ago, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson and featuring Union Sq. Cafe chef Michael Romano. See chapter five.

    Briefly: the Big Bang left us with a universe that was essentially 80% hydrogen and 20% helium, w traces of lithium thrown in. The first stars burned very fast, and produced the first heavier elements (though probably not the whole catalogue; pure H/He stars have a lot of instability). Successive generations of stars were made out of a mixture of the original post-nucleogenesis catalogue of matter + whatever heavier elements, and later dust, thrown off in the cycle of stellar fusion and then death. But stars do not burn all the gas they start with — fusion only occurs in the core, and while there are a lot of exotic reactions that happen in stars, most of the material that makes up the total mass of the star does not get cooked in that core. So we’re at a point today where in a reasonably mature galaxy like our own, the percentage of hydrogen in the interstellar medium — made up of gas never processed through stars plus all the detritus from prior generations — is now roughly 70% hydrogen. Still plenty to burn, in other words.

    Update: I see Poopyman at #34 got there first. #tipodahat

  42. 42.

    Poopyman

    June 8, 2011 at 1:48 pm

    @WereBear: @Chat Noir: Have pity on me. I just got back from taking 5 (that’s all of them, fortunately) cats for their well-kitty visit and triennial shots. Much howling and losing of body fluids during the car ride. And that was just me.

  43. 43.

    slag

    June 8, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    @eric: For the record, I have the dvd of Origins that Tom Levenson mentions and it’s good.

  44. 44.

    JPL

    June 8, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    @Brian S: Congrats! I’m still laughing at your list. These Boots are Made for Walking by Nancy Sinatra should be considered for your list.

  45. 45.

    quaker in a basement

    June 8, 2011 at 1:55 pm

    Wait, I don’t understand the point of posting that picture. It doesn’t look anything like Anthony Weiner’s p3nis.

  46. 46.

    Chat Noir

    June 8, 2011 at 1:56 pm

    @Poopyman: LOL. I admire your bravery. I take each of my three cats separately for well-kitty appointments. My tortoiseshell goes in for her appointment next Friday.

  47. 47.

    Linda Featheringill

    June 8, 2011 at 2:02 pm

    @WereBear:

    magnesium: Thanks. I’ll try that.

  48. 48.

    Redshift

    June 8, 2011 at 2:07 pm

    My spectacular picture of the day (released yesterday, actually) is this one of the shuttle Endeavour docked to the International Space Station, taken from the departing Soyuz. (More photos here.) The combination of the shuttle and the robot arms, along with the recently installed Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, is just too cool.

    They are the first and last such photos we will have of a shuttle docked to the station (which is a bit sad); they’ve never done a Soyuz “flyaround” with a camera before.

  49. 49.

    Linda Featheringill

    June 8, 2011 at 2:10 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Thanks for passing that along. Menopause is long gone so it must be some other issue.

  50. 50.

    patrick II

    June 8, 2011 at 2:11 pm

    @Brian S:
    “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before” Iglesias, Nelson.

  51. 51.

    DBrown

    June 8, 2011 at 2:14 pm

    @Linda Featheringill: Also, Mg will raise your HDL (the good one) a good bite and can lower the LDL (bad stuff) a great deal.

  52. 52.

    Martin

    June 8, 2011 at 2:16 pm

    @Poopyman:

    Here’s where my memory fails me (sorry), but a star goes supernova when gravity squeezes the matter to the point where a massive uncontrolled reaction blows the vast majority of the matter off the star while simultaneously creating a slew of higher elements.

    Essentially what happens is that the star’s core becomes almost exclusively iron and nickel (some fusion cycles do produce elements higher than iron, but there’s no energy release from these) and the core of the star runs out of fuel, with no lighter material left to fuse and no heavier material left to split. If the star is massive enough, the gravitational force of the layers of material can exceed that of the force that holds the atoms apart from one another, and the reaction in the core produces outward pressure to counteract this. Once the core runs out of fuel such that the limit is reached where the inward forces exceed the forces holding the atoms apart, the core spontaneously and very rapidly collapses getting denser and denser until the forces reach the level of the strong force that binds the neutrons and protons in the nucleus. The collapse can go no further and this very rapid collapse stops, generating a outward shockwave in this extremely dense material that then triggers the explosion. We don’t exactly know why the star explodes with the force that it does, that’s even darker quantum mechanics being explored there, but that’s basically the process up until that mysterious point.

  53. 53.

    Tom Levenson

    June 8, 2011 at 2:32 pm

    10@slag: Thanks!

    BTW, all. Cool big-bang fun fact. Some percentage of the lithium found on earth is cosmological in origin — which is to say that it is a fossil of the Big Bang. Given its role in regulating emotion, that fact gives a bizarre resonance (at least to me) of the notion that we are one with the cosmos.

    OK — back to work.

  54. 54.

    JGabriel

    June 8, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    @Martin:

    Essentially what happens is that the star’s core becomes almost exclusively iron and nickel (some fusion cycles do produce elements higher than iron, but there’s no energy release from these)

    Adding to what Martin says, the heavier than iron elements are mostly formed during the implosion stage of a supernova — when the star collapses and a whole bunch of atoms are randomly fused together under enormous pressure — before being flung out to the rest of space when the rebound shock tears the star apart and it explodes.

    .

  55. 55.

    jacy

    June 8, 2011 at 2:39 pm

    @Brian S:

    Congrats!

    Worst Song for a Wedding? Definitely “Lights of L.A. County” by Lyle Lovett.

  56. 56.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 8, 2011 at 2:43 pm

    I’d just like to say that this has been a very educational and informative thread…which I suppose it’s free of the insane sniper fire between posters that the previous thread devolved into.

  57. 57.

    Tom Levenson

    June 8, 2011 at 2:46 pm

    @Redshift: Beyond cool. What a photograph.

    Thanks

  58. 58.

    Southern Beale

    June 8, 2011 at 2:48 pm

    @Valdivia:

    Hey, well thanks for asking. My sister recovered from her surgery just fine but unfortunately they were unable to get all of the tumor –which was benign, as most are. However, it’s growing back. I’m told they grow very slowly but still, hers was leaking human growth hormone and created all sorts of awful side effects. I don’t know if she’s going to get it removed again or what.

    Glad your dad got to his in time. I know a lot of people who have had this, actually. Apparently it’s a lot more common than people realize.

  59. 59.

    Southern Beale

    June 8, 2011 at 2:49 pm

    @jacy:

    Oh but I LOVE LOVE LOVE “Lights of L.A. County”!! But yeah, pretty much any song by Lyle Lovett is probably uncool for a wedding.

  60. 60.

    slag

    June 8, 2011 at 2:51 pm

    Not related to supernovas, a friend just sent me a link to this engineers’ guide to cats video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXBL6bzAR4&feature=youtu.be . Made me laugh.

  61. 61.

    Southern Beale

    June 8, 2011 at 2:53 pm

    @Valdivia:

    Oh also, I wouldn’t freak out over the surgery. I flew out to CA to help my sister with the recovery and it wasn’t that awful. Apparently one feels like they’ve got the mother of all sinus headaches for a few days. Of course my sister did have a minor complication post-surgery, an infection. I think that’s common and easily treated with antibiotics, not a big deal.

    But you do need to keep checking back because these little fuckers do grow back.

  62. 62.

    jacy

    June 8, 2011 at 2:55 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Yeah, I’m a huge Lovett fan (especially that song, because I’m a twisted individual), but you’re right, most of his playlist is not wedding-reception friendly.

  63. 63.

    Valdivia

    June 8, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    thanks so much for all the info. Feeling much better after reading what you wrote. we have the neurosurgeon appt next week and a follow up with the dr who figured it out on fri, I guess we’ll know then what hormone the growth is secreting. For my dad it’s been just temp issues and exhaustion. Hopefully they’ll be able to get everything out.

    Hope your sister stays well.

  64. 64.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    June 8, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    That star P.R.O.N. is hawt!

    And by the way, the worse wedding song EVAH is “Wedding March” by The Emergency.

  65. 65.

    Martin

    June 8, 2011 at 3:05 pm

    @JGabriel: Right. The details on why iron is significant come from understanding the nuclear binding energy of the nucleus of the different elements. It turns out the nucleus of an atom weighs less than it’s constituent parts. This apparent contradiction is resolved when you apply E=mc2 to the mass differential which gives you the amount of energy binding the nucleus together.

    Different elements require different amounts of energy to bind the nucleus together relative to their mass. If you plot these out according to atomic number, you find a curve that climbs quickly from hydrogen up until about carbon then slowly climbs up to iron. From iron, the curve gently drops until we run out of elements. Iron is at the peak.

    The result of this is that if you fuse elements together to yield an element with a nucleus more tightly packed than the source elements, you get a release of energy. At the same time, if you split elements into components with more tightly packed nuclei, you also get a release of energy.

    Each of these cycles requires energy to take place, which is why they don’t just happen in your office. It requires an enormous amount of energy to trigger a fusion reaction of light elements, but the end result is even more energy. In a sustainable reaction absent other annoying realities (some reactions overshoot because it’s still a net release, and then decay back to iron), iron is the final endstate.

    In a supernova, the reaction is unsustainable. There’s such a surplus of energy due to the explosion that reactions commonly take place which consume rather than produce energy, and that’s when all the cool elements come about.

  66. 66.

    Cat Lady

    June 8, 2011 at 3:08 pm

    OT but still a wonder of nature: this. I just have to overshare for anyone who wonders whether that spot on their skin might be basal cell carcinoma since it’s summer and well, it’s that time to show some skin. So, I had this little red spot on my shin since last summer or so and since it was slightly raised and hasn’t changed shape or color I wasn’t concerned – thought it was a scar. My sister has used this stuff since she was told a few years ago that she had several spots on her face and arms that the fancy NY dermatologist told her she’d spend years getting rid of one by one with surgery of course. She found an alternative doctor in Madison who gave her this paste which she has used successfully, and since she had it with her while she’s visiting me, I thought I’d try it on that little spot on my leg. Holy shit is all I can say. I put a dab on it on Monday morning and wiped it off Monday night, and the activity happening at the spot since defies description. As a test, I put a little on some healthy skin, and absolutely nothing happened. I might be the world’s biggest skeptic, but I’m 100% convinced this stuff is special.

  67. 67.

    slag

    June 8, 2011 at 3:23 pm

    @Martin: Holy shit, Martin, is there anything you can’t explain well? Care to take a crack at group theory while you’re at it?

  68. 68.

    Hal

    June 8, 2011 at 3:37 pm

    So Breitbart is walking around with Anthony Wiener Jr on his cell phone. But he’s a serious journalist…

  69. 69.

    MikeJ

    June 8, 2011 at 4:19 pm

    @Hal:

    So Breitbart is walking around with Anthony Wiener Jr on his cell phone.

    There was a time when the press wouldn’t show Roosevelt’s wheelchair.

  70. 70.

    JGabriel

    June 8, 2011 at 6:09 pm

    @Martin:

    There’s such a surplus of energy due to the explosion that reactions commonly take place which consume rather than produce energy, and that’s when all the cool elements come about.

    Maybe I’m wrong, but shouldn’t that be IMplosion, not EXplosion? I thought most of the >iron elements were created in the crush of the collapse.

    .

  71. 71.

    Martin

    June 8, 2011 at 6:25 pm

    @slag: Sorry, had to take the wife to the dr. My focus was differential geometry, so yeah, I can swing the group theory stick. Another day though. Got some more code to write and plumbing to do.

    @JGabriel: No, my recollection is that it happens during the explosion because it needs the surplus of energy which doesn’t exist during the collapse. They’re not entirely sure *why* the explosion takes place, but it’s not until that point that the energy surplus to create the heavier elements exists.

  72. 72.

    matt conway

    June 8, 2011 at 9:36 pm

    perhaps someone could explain how gold is formed in stars to glenn beck, and that he might want to swing by the nearest supernova on his way back from jerusalem…

  73. 73.

    redshirt

    June 8, 2011 at 9:53 pm

    @eric: Others have ably answered the core of your question, but I think they missed an aspect of it: It is true, there’s plenty of hydrogen left for stars, in theory. But the Universe is expanding and cooling, in sum, always. And it might even be picking up speed. So eventually, distances will start to become great enough that indeed, less stars will be created. Less and less stars over hundreds of billions of years and eventually, even the hydrogen gas will break down, stretch apart. Eventually (trillions of years?), atoms themselves will dissolve. And one day a long, long, long time in the future, the entire Universe will be void, cold, empty, and incomprehensibly vast. A theory!

    The first practical application of the expanding Universe will be the decrease in galactic interaction – specifically, galaxies colliding. Which is a great source of star formation, and thus, less stars will be produced via this manner over time – relatively soon (10 billion years?) compared to the time scales described above.

  74. 74.

    bob h

    June 9, 2011 at 6:39 am

    If you want some stunning cosmic eye candy set to classical music, see “The Tree of Life”.

  75. 75.

    TerryDarc

    June 11, 2011 at 11:11 am

    @Jay in Oregon:

    Holy Ghostbusters III! Those ARE amazing photos of Puyehue! Thanks, Jay! Just sent your link to my friends.
    -td

  76. 76.

    Laurence Glavin

    June 11, 2011 at 2:14 pm

    The International Star Register just informed me that the big bright star in the upper right-hand corner is named after me. So in the future, just stop with this Messier-## nonsense will you?

Comments are closed.

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  1. This week in science | Hotspyer – Breaking News from around the web says:
    June 11, 2011 at 9:30 am

    […] at BalloonJuice posted a couple of stellar astronomical pics worth checking out — sorry for the pun, couldn’t […]

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