Re: What do you take away from this?
 

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VY Canis Majoris This star is likely to undergo a hypernova stage by 3200. The distance from Earth to VY CMa is about 1.5 kiloparsecs (or 5,000 light-years).

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Wait, what? time to start running...

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Uh, yeah. How can something like that be predicted with that level of granularity? 1200 years in a star life cycle is a flash in the pan; wouldn't this be like predicting the time, down to the second, at which I will die?

And assumuing that this 1200 year span is subject to huge error, it's almost certainly possible that this thing has already blowed up 4,999 years ago and we're going to find out Real Soon. Is 5,000 light years far enough away to avoid getting seriously [censored] up from this?

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From what I can find, it appears that it has entered it's final phase of life and that's thought to last roughly that long. Bear in mind that that's an observer-date, so if it's correct then it means the star blew up 3,800 years ago and we will see the results in 3200AD. There is bound to be a large margin for error here, yes.

This analyses the potential effects of a nearby supernova explosion, but a hypernova is much more luminous than a supernova. Looks like it will kill you quite easily without any shielding. Fortunately we have about 10 tonnes/m^2 of atmosphere above us, which is pretty decent as radiation shields go. This thing is way to close for comfort, though.

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FWIW, the 3200 date has been removed from the article. There's some discussion of it on the talk page, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:VY...Hypernova_3200

No citations. I googled around and couldn't find anything corroborating that prediction that didn't trace back to the wikipedia article. I'll sleep a little better tonight.

Re: What do you take away from this?
 

I no longer think of my manhood as "gargantuan". Though it is still mighty and imposing.

Re: What do you take away from this?
 

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Stars are big.

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Re: What do you take away from this?
 

It kind of frightens me.

Re: What do you take away from this?
 

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They should really rename Uranus.

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To paraphrase John Varley:
There are two ways to pronounce Uranus: your-anus and urine-us, and both ways stink.

Re: What do you take away from this?
 

awesome

Re: What do you take away from this?
 

Why did God make all that other stuff if it doesn't do anything for us?

Re: What do you take away from this?
 

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Why did God make all that other stuff if it doesn't do anything for us?

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yet.

Re: What do you take away from this?
 

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Why did God make all that other stuff if it doesn't do anything for us?

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yet.

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Indeed.

Re: What do you take away from this?
 

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Why did God make all that other stuff if it doesn't do anything for us?

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yet.

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Indeed.

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Is this mentioned anywhere or is it going to be a surprise?