Comment Re:Well... keep fingers crossed (Score 1) 205
Now, 10 times 30 to 100 would be 300 to 10.000...
But no, the 5000 LY was just inferred as an approximation by the estimate that the Eta Carinae event would be about 7500 LY away (if I am not mistaken), and the astronomers seem to think (based on whatever reasoning) that Eta Carinae going Hypernova would have some impact on space installations, but not severely damage earth lifeforms. Given the inverse square law for energy and particle densities, reducing the distance to the event by 1/3rd would already dramatically increase the infall, and so increase the likelyhood of adverse effects on life on a planetary surface.
However, I'm not academic about this - 300, 3000, 5000, or 10000, does it really matter? Especially if our astronomers can't do much more than guess. If they think 7.500 LY is safe, but they misguess, we're dead anyway.
Also, if stars are less dense, catastrophic events are less likely to occur - but so is diminishing the probability of intelligent life within the same timeframe as ours.
Regards,
scotchco
But no, the 5000 LY was just inferred as an approximation by the estimate that the Eta Carinae event would be about 7500 LY away (if I am not mistaken), and the astronomers seem to think (based on whatever reasoning) that Eta Carinae going Hypernova would have some impact on space installations, but not severely damage earth lifeforms. Given the inverse square law for energy and particle densities, reducing the distance to the event by 1/3rd would already dramatically increase the infall, and so increase the likelyhood of adverse effects on life on a planetary surface.
However, I'm not academic about this - 300, 3000, 5000, or 10000, does it really matter? Especially if our astronomers can't do much more than guess. If they think 7.500 LY is safe, but they misguess, we're dead anyway.
Also, if stars are less dense, catastrophic events are less likely to occur - but so is diminishing the probability of intelligent life within the same timeframe as ours.
Regards,
scotchco
