Fireball 5 billion times the size of our solar system spotted.

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Astronomers have identified a massive comet-like structure - spanning a whopping three million light years - that is tearing through a distant galaxy cluster at more than 750 kilometres a second.

Yes, you read that right. A great ball of fiery gas*, some five thousand million times the size of the solar system. Fortunately, it isn't anywhere near Earth. The flaming gas-ball is in the Abell 3266 galaxy cluster, even more millions of light years away from us than it is across.

The fireball, which is the largest object of this kind ever identified, was spotted by stargazers using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton X-Ray telescope.

The researchers have produced an entropy map of the gas-ball, which allows them to pick out the relatively cold dense gas of the comet from the hotter gas of the galaxy cluster. Analysis of the data has revealed remarkable detail of the stripping of gas from the comet's core, ESA says, at a rate of about a Sun's mass, every hour.

The scientists who discovered the object describe it as "truly fantastic".

"In Abell 3266 we are seeing structure formation in action," said Professor Mark Henriksen, co-author of the results. "Dark matter is the gravitational glue holding the gas ball together. But as it races through the galaxy cluster, a tug-of-war ensues where the galaxy cluster eventually wins, stripping off and dispersing gas that perhaps one day will seed star and galaxy growth within the cluster."

Zurich-based researcher Dr. Francesco Miniati commented: "What interests astronomers is not just the size of the gas ball but the role it plays in the formation and evolution of structure in the universe." ®

*Please take note that considerable restraint has been exercised, and no references to 'great balls of fire' have been made in this article.
Click to expand...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06/12/great_balls_of_fire/

This is just insane. I almost can't comprehend this. It would take a ray of light three million years to go from one end to the other. Just... *head explodes*
 
Damn...how could this type of thing form? Its amazing the type of things the universe can contain yet we will all probably die long before they are discovered.
 
[quote name='Soodmeg']Damn...god must have had taco bell for lunch and farted.[/quote]

Could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot that he himself could not eat it? This just popped into my head...
 
[quote name='javeryh']Could Jesus microwave a burrito so hot that he himself could not eat it? This just popped into my head...[/QUOTE]
You and your legal terminoligy. Can't you put it in words we can understand for once?!

I think the big fireball is Sin from FFX :whistle2:/
 
it's crazy how god made the earth and stuff in like 7 earth days, and then made a massive fucking fireball just for kicks -when did that happen?
 
[quote name='Sleepkyng']it's crazy how god made the earth and stuff in like 7 earth days, and then made a massive fucking fireball just for kicks -when did that happen?[/QUOTE]
He's had alot of spare time after the whole "Son of God" thing blew over.
 
sephiroth.jpg


Sephir0wned.
 
At least whoever is in that galaxy is witnessing a quick death.

on a side note this is amusing:

*Please take note that considerable restraint has been exercised, and no references to 'great balls of fire' have been made in this article.
 
[quote name='Grave_Addiction']I know I'm not the smartest guy around, but how can a big ball of fire survive in outer space where there is no oxygen?[/quote]

I don't know but isn't the sun a big ball of fire?
 
[quote name='javeryh']I don't know but isn't the sun a big ball of fire?[/quote]

Yeah, you're right. And thank you for fucking up my entire day. Now, this shit is all I'll be thinking about as I try to comprehend it in my primitive brain.
 
[quote name='Grave_Addiction']I know I'm not the smartest guy around, but how can a big ball of fire survive in outer space where there is no oxygen?[/QUOTE]
Fusion inside of the ball of fire, I believe...

The sun is a mass of incandescent gas
A gigantic nuclear furnace
Where hydrogen is built into helium
At a temperature of millions of degrees...

EDIT: Stupid Dr Mario Kart beat me, but I've got nifty song lyrics. :shock:
 
[quote name='Grave_Addiction']Yeah, you're right. And thank you for fucking up my entire day. Now, this shit is all I'll be thinking about as I try to comprehend it in my primitive brain.[/QUOTE]

Want another one that will rack your brain if you think about it too much?

Is space infinite and if so, how does that work?

That's the one that always racks my brain because basically everything else that we define as infinite is abstract (things like pi). Whereas if space is infinite what does infinite truly mean? How could space not be infinite?

I wish I was more intelligent so I could an astrophysicist and at least attempt to understand what space truly means.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']Want another one that will rack your brain if you think about it too much?

Is space infinite and if so, how does that work?

That's the one that always racks my brain because basically everything else that we define as infinite is abstract (things like pi). Whereas if space is infinite what does infinite truly mean? How could space not be infinite?

I wish I was more intelligent so I could an astrophysicist and at least attempt to understand what space truly means.[/quote]

Most theorize that it just wraps in on itself. Of course, there has to be (or had to have been) something outside of it before the big bang - that's what racks my brain.

Also, if there is a God, then who created him? Or how did he just appear?

:whistle2:x
 
[quote name='2Fast']Most theorize that it just wraps in on itself. Of course, there has to be (or had to have been) something outside of it before the big bang - that's what racks my brain.

Also, if there is a God, then who created him? Or how did he just appear?

:whistle2:x[/QUOTE]

Ok, so big bang happens from a bunch of matter that's all pressed together right? Why/how did the matter exist in the first place? If you believe in God you can say he created it but then again, like you said, who created God then?

Does space just "run out" to the point where you don't run in to galaxies or stars anymore and its just empty?
 
I refuse to even attempt to comprehend that kind of size, to avoid failure.

[quote name='Sleepkyng']it's crazy how god made the earth and stuff in like 7 earth days, and then made a massive fucking fireball just for kicks[/QUOTE]

Made my day.

[quote name='RedvsBlue']Want another one that will rack your brain if you think about it too much?

Is space infinite and if so, how does that work?

That's the one that always racks my brain because basically everything else that we define as infinite is abstract (things like pi). Whereas if space is infinite what does infinite truly mean? How could space not be infinite?

I wish I was more intelligent so I could an astrophysicist and at least attempt to understand what space truly means.[/QUOTE]


Space is expanding, we know because it's cooling, it's becoming less dense without the loss of matter so the area containing it must be growing. What happens at the edge is one of those things we'll just have to deal with not knowing - but it's quite possible the universe is just as spherical as Earth, except without gravity we're kind of dicked in our attempt to gauge the curvature.
 
[quote name='Koggit']I refuse to even attempt to comprehend that kind of size, to avoid failure.



Made my day.




Space is expanding, we know because it's cooling, it's becoming less dense without the loss of matter so the area containing it must be growing. What happens at the edge is one of those things we'll just have to deal with not knowing - but it's quite possible the universe is just as spherical as Earth, except without gravity we're kind of dicked in our attempt to gauge the curvature.[/QUOTE]

Ok, space is expanding due to the big bang, I've heard that before and I buy it. However, how can the empty space expand if there's no matter in it? Space is one of those things where every time you attempt to answer one question you make more questions.

Honestly, I don't think even the most intelligent astrophysicists truly understand and comprehend everything about space.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']Ok, space is expanding due to the big bang, I've heard that before and I buy it. However, how can the empty space expand if there's no matter in it? Space is one of those things where every time you attempt to answer one question you make more questions.

Honestly, I don't think even the most intelligent astrophysicists truly understand and comprehend everything about space.[/QUOTE]

We don't really have a classification for whatever may be beyond the borders of space, or even know what the borders are. We could theorize, but it'd be nothing but a blind guess comsidering there's absolutely no factual material to even lend us a clue. There are quite a few answers out there, and many questions that will eventually get answers, but you also have to accept that there're many things - especially the impossibly small and impossibly large - that we will never be able to understand due to, quite literally, physical limitation.

Other discoveries are possible, but it's nothing we can even look for at the moment. Maybe if we unravel Hubble's constant we'll know how the universe is expanding, and that might give answers as to what happens as it expands... maybe we'll discover new particles or antiparticles that'll behave in a way that'll answer some questions... maybe string theory will give us something... right now, we have nothing, so the focus is on what's possible to answer.

Scientists leave assumptions of the unknown up to theology. Ask your local priest, I'm sure he has the answer. =)
 
[quote name='Koggit']I refuse to even attempt - but it's quite possible the universe is just as spherical as Earth, except without gravity we're kind of dicked in our attempt to gauge the curvature.[/QUOTE]
Man, I never thought of that. That's awesome. Also awesome:
deep_purple_-_fireball_a.jpg
 
[quote name='Koggit']We don't really have a classification for whatever may be beyond the borders of space, or even know what the borders are. We could theorize, but it'd be nothing but a blind guess comsidering there's absolutely no factual material to even lend us a clue. There are quite a few answers out there, and many questions that will eventually get answers, but you also have to accept that there're many things - especially the impossibly small and impossibly large - that we will never be able to understand due to, quite literally, physical limitation.

Other discoveries are possible, but it's nothing we can even look for at the moment. Maybe if we unravel Hubble's constant we'll know how the universe is expanding, and that might give answers as to what happens as it expands... maybe we'll discover new particles or antiparticles that'll behave in a way that'll answer some questions... maybe string theory will give us something... right now, we have nothing, so the focus is on what's possible to answer.

Scientists leave assumptions of the unknown up to theology. Ask your local priest, I'm sure he has the answer. =)[/QUOTE]

It all goes back to the question I originally posed. What does infinite truly mean?
 
[quote name='evanft']Wait a minute, since it's so far away, aren't we really seeing what was happening millions of years ago?[/quote]

I believe so.
 
[quote name='RedvsBlue']It all goes back to the question I originally posed. What does infinite truly mean?[/QUOTE]

I don't really understand why that's still a pertinent question, what in our universe is infinite? We don't know of anything that's infinite, it's an abstact concept necessary only to avoid error by precision. Pi is infinite, but it's still just half a circle... a third is an infinite decimal, but it's still just a third.

The physical world and everything about it is finite, the concept of infinite only exists in our explanation of it. I'm majoring in Physics, and although I've yet to take much Astronomy I don't know of anything in our universe that is truly infinite. All of the immesurable aspects - the edges of space, particles/antiparticles we don't fully understand, black holes' force, it's all finite we just don't know enough about it to explain. Not beyond measure, just beyond comprehension.
 
[quote name='Soodmeg']Damn...god must have had taco bell for lunch and farted.[/quote]

:rofl:

I actually laughed out loud.
 
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