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Are you a science nerd?

 
pie sneak
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Read this quote carefully...

Two planets about 300 light years from Earth slammed into each other recently, US astronomers said Tuesday...


article

If you aren't laughing you're either in a bad mood or you need someone to draw you a diagram.

 
Rancher
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OK, it took me a sec. You could possibly measure someones NQ (nerd quotient) by seeing how long it takes someone (within your current frame of reference, of course)
 
David O'Meara
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I found the problem.
The article is dated 23rd September, but doesn't say what year. It could still be valid!
 
Master Rancher
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300 years ago is recently, to astronomers.
 
Sheriff
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Yeah, I totally didn't get it because 300 years is a blink of an eye in astronomical terms.
 
Marc Peabody
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So you both believe that the sentence is purposefully redundant just to stress that, astronomically speaking, 300 years ago is recent? C'maaaawwwn!

I have to give it to you guys. The nerdiest response is to kill a joke with science. You get extra credit since the original joke was science-related.


Extra extra credit: If one of those planets had an iPod on it, how long would it take for it to land in our atmosphere?
 
Mike Simmons
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[Marc]: So you both believe that the sentence is purposefully redundant just to stress that, astronomically speaking, 300 years ago is recent? C'maaaawwwn!

No, I don't think it's redundant at all. The planets are 300 light years away, and the collision was recent. Those are two separate facts, largely unrelated. Yes, we can infer that the collision was at least 300 years ago. It also could have been 10000 years ago - that would still be recent, astronomically.

There was no joke to kill here. sorry.
 
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YES I am absolutely a science nerd and I love it! And I'm especially interested in astronomy and physics!

Here are some great websites for fellow science nerds:

Science Daily - also has the story about the planets
This Week in Science - fun podcast about new science discoveries
Stellarium - great free and open source planetarium program
Astronomy Cast - nice podcast about astrononomy
The Planerary Society - also has a podcast, Planetary Radio
Bad Astronomy Blog - by Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer
The Naked Scientists - another nice science podcast
Scientific American - lots of interesting stories (I'm also subscribed to the magazine)
Universe Today
 
Sheriff
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Interesting, that this event should coincide with the Hindenburg disaster. (Give or take.)
 
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Hello !! Isn't anyone else concerned that it is possible for two planets in a stable solar system to collide? This means that it is possible for a planet's orbit to just change -- in fact, the earth's orbit could be changing as I type this !!

Henry
 
Bear Bibeault
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No wonder I feel heavier!

 
Bear Bibeault
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Large asteroid simulation.
 
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Originally posted by Henry Wong:
Hello !! Isn't anyone else concerned that it is possible for two planets in a stable solar system to collide? This means that it is possible for a planet's orbit to just change -- in fact, the earth's orbit could be changing as I type this !!

Henry



There is a hypothesis that the Moon was formed due to a collision of another planet with Earth. But we need not worry about any collisions. We just need to do what these guys did.
 
Bear Bibeault
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Originally posted by Satish Chilukuri:
We just need to do what these guys did.

Make a bad movie?




 
Marc Peabody
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Originally posted by Bear Bibeault:
No wonder I feel heavier!


Just promise us you won't collide into our planet, Bear! I'm not done using it yet.
 
Mike Simmons
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It's where I keep all my stuff!
 
marc weber
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Originally posted by Henry Wong:
Hello !! Isn't anyone else concerned that it is possible for two planets in a stable solar system to collide? This means that it is possible for a planet's orbit to just change -- in fact, the earth's orbit could be changing as I type this !! ...


That's why we offer a no-fault Planetary Collision Policy (PCP), available in terms of up to 25,000 years. I think you'll find our rates quite reasonable for a planet in your part of the galaxy. Of course, a PCP does not cover damage resulting from impact (or near misses) with planetoids, meteors, meteorites, etc., which is why we recommend a supplemental rider...
 
Marc Peabody
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Originally posted by Mike Simmons:
It also could have been 10000 years ago...


Are you suggesting that light beams migrate?

Hey, maybe time and space bend in such funny ways that astronomers just witnessed Earth's future destruction!!!
 
Mike Simmons
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No, silly. I'm saying that if you read the article, the astronomers did not see the planets appearing as if they're "currently" colliding (i.e. as if they collided 300 years ago and the light just reached us). Rather, the astronomers found two planets and an unusually large amount of dust. The dust implies that sometime more than 300 years ago, there was a big collision between the planets. The article doesn't attempt to say how "recently" this occurred, but really, dust clouds like that do not just vanish overnight. Most of the dust will stay in orbit around the star for a long time, making it hard to tell exactly how long ago the collision occurred.
 
Henry Wong
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I bet that it is even more indirect. I bet that they are stating that fluctuations in energy is likely due to absorption by dust, which in turn, is likely caused by two planets colliding.

For all we know, it could also be some sort of deep space station (monitoring some wormhole) that is very efficient at absorbing ambient energy.

Henry
 
marc weber
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Originally posted by Mike Simmons:
... Most of the dust will stay in orbit around the star for a long time...


And some will be sold on eBay. I recently purchased 2 metric tons of interstellar debris for my collection. Eventually, I'm going to build my own planet.
 
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All right, all right already. The guilt is killing me. Yes, fine, it's my fault. There, I said it. Are you happy? It was late, it was raining, I had a lot of groceries to carry, and I forget to set the parking brake on planet Ford. It rolled down the gravity well and crashed into planet Chevy. Whatever. Nobody got hurt, is the important thing.

Man, my insurance premium is going to suck next year.
 
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I have to give it to you guys. The nerdiest response is to kill a joke with science.



I can attest to that. Once long ago, I was scoring points with a cute blonde -- no joke -- no pun intended. I gave an analogy to something we were talking about I can't remember now, that included a spaghetti vacation. She thought it was funny until I explained it to her. All points lost. Note to self after that: "Still be honest, just not so honest."

- Doug
-- Nothing is impossible if I'mPossible
 
Marc Peabody
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Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
Man, my insurance premium is going to suck next year.


It'll be... astronomical!!!
 
Ernest Friedman-Hill
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Originally posted by Doug Slattery:
spaghetti vacation





You can explain this to me as I have no idea what this means and Google failed me...
 
marc weber
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Originally posted by Ernest Friedman-Hill:
...I forget to set the parking brake on planet Ford. It rolled down the gravity well and crashed into planet Chevy...


I think those scratches could be buffed out with a large enough hurricane.
 
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