Hermit Posted September 24, 2003 Report Share Posted September 24, 2003 A galactic conquest of cosmic proportions is occuring. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=570&ncid=753&e=1&u=/nm/20030924/sc_nm/space_cannibal_dc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigitalGolem Posted September 24, 2003 Report Share Posted September 24, 2003 If I were a Sagittarian, this would have me extremely worried. Lucky for me I'm a Leo.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted September 24, 2003 Report Share Posted September 24, 2003 Hey that's not fair! I'm not about to start telling people my sign is "Milky Way"... I can just hear the fat jokes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted September 24, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2003 Once you get close enough to grapple with them, those archers just can't defend themselves Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Notice the article claims the "dwarf" galaxy is 10,000 times the mass of the Milky Way! If that were true, it wouldn't be OUR galaxy that would be doing the "cannibalizing"! This wouldn't be the first time the popular press had gotten the facts wrong in a space-related article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly Notice the article claims the "dwarf" galaxy is 10,000 times the mass of the Milky Way! If that were true, it wouldn't be OUR galaxy that would be doing the "cannibalizing"! This wouldn't be the first time the popular press had gotten the facts wrong in a space-related article. Possibly they meant it the other way around, like "one ten-thousandth the mass." Editors can't catch everything. What I'm curious about is whether any of the stars being swallowed could have planets. If so, some of those might be old enough and hospitable enough to have life. What would it be like to be a sentient species living on a world with that kind of cosmic catastrophe happening to it? Do you think it would be better to go through it in ignorance, not knowing that this signalled the end of your civilization, your race, your universe as you knew it? Or to be advanced enough to realize what was going on, maybe even predict it, but not be able to prevent it? I just made a shudder go down my spine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 The mass thing is indeed a mistake. The ratio should be reversed. A quick search can even show claims of it having one-millionth the mass of our own MW galaxy. Claiming editorial oversight is one thing, but that's an error that even a total layman should catch. A "dwarf" galaxy, with "10,000" times our mass is being "cannibalized" by our presumably tiny galaxy? Keith "Still, it would kinda suck to be on one of those planets" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted September 25, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Well, the Zindi may grow alarmed and do a pre-emptive strike on Florida... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Originally posted by Lord Liaden What would it be like to be a sentient species living on a world with that kind of cosmic catastrophe happening to it? Honestly? I think life and civilization would go on pretty much as normal. You see, even though this IS a 'cosmic catastrophe' as far as the dwarf galaxy is concerned, it probably won't mean much at all to the individual stars and any planetary systems they have. Generally speaking, the planets in a stable star system are so gravitationally bound to their star that having said star ripped out of its parent galaxy and swallowed by another will mean...squat, if you'll pardon my term of art! Remember that gravity falls off very quickly (inverse square law) and as such gravitational sources/events near to the planet in question have an extremely disporportionate influence on that planet. In other words, a 'catastrophe' like this one probably won't shift planetary orbits or wreck ecosystems. That's too bad if you want space opera -type catastrophe, but good if you are a real-life civilization whose planet is in the middle of this kind of event. Now, I'm not saying there CAN'T be effects...a likely one which springs to mind is that a close encounter with another star (and by close I mean an approach no closer than a light-year) may disturb comets in the cometary halo (or other bodies in that star's Oort Cloud) and send them drifting into the inner system, where they could some day put inhabited planets in peril due to possible collisions, etc. On the other hand, this sort of event doesn't need a galaxy disruption to happen...it's a hazard of living on a planet circling a star that happens to reside in ANY galaxy. It could well be the chances of it happening would be greater during this kind of dog-eat-dog event, but I'm not sure. Cosmology is a hobby of mine, not a profession, and I don't have enough data at hand to make a call on the changes to the likelyhood of this sort of encounter. So...theatrics aside, I'm sorry -- but living in a civilization on such a planet would probably remain the same ho-hum existence it would be if such a thing weren't happening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Hey, thanks for the info, Dr. A. That's strangely comforting and disappointing at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbcowboy Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly So...theatrics aside, I'm sorry -- but living in a civilization on such a planet would probably remain the same ho-hum existence it would be if such a thing weren't happening. Are you kidding!?! This thing could completely disrupt their entire sky. Constellations would be completely rearranged. Astrologers on every world would be totally swamped. They've got to come up with totally new zodiac symbols, there'll be arguing about how many and which ones to keep, which could escallate to all out psychic war with the curses and hexes and the throwing of crystal balls at one another. In the meantime all those poor sentient, unable to make decisions for themselves will be left waiting for these "professionals" to straighten things out and get on with the business of telling them how to live their lives. I think you need to reassess the seriousness of this situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Well, yeah...I admit I was thinking more in terms of tidal waves, earthquakes, or spiralling into their star. On the other hand, you've got to remember that disasters on this scale take a huge amount of time as well...hundreds of thousands or millions of years. The changes in the sky would be gradual, not sudden, so I think they'd have plenty of time to adapt. Hmmmm....having a 'Hitchhiker's Guide' moment here... (paraphrasing) "Everyone will be wondering what the final results will be once we enter our new galaxy. So long as you keep publishing opposing viewpoints and slamming each other in the popular press, you can keep yourselves on the gravy train for life." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Actually, the biggest problem would be one of radiation. It depends on where the star is headed. Sagittarius is a low-density galaxy, presumably also low background radiation. If our hypothetical race is being pulled into the core of the galaxy where there are several stars per cubic light year or perhaps even a supermassive black hole they are indeed doomed. The radiation will fry them. Keith "Still standing by the 'it would suck' comment" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Yeah, that WOULD suck. Just remember the central core of our galaxy is relatively tiny compared to the size of the galactic disk, so the odds are good they won't wind up in the core. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 With all this talk of Dwarf(s) and Archers I thought I was in the Fantasy Hero Forum for a moment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigitalGolem Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Originally posted by Blue With all this talk of Dwarf(s) and Archers I thought I was in the Fantasy Hero Forum for a moment Nope, we were just discussing the use of Dwarven Space Archers in the Terran Empire setting.... ...smiling innocently.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Seeman Posted September 25, 2003 Report Share Posted September 25, 2003 Here's an interesting image from APoD, 1998. http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980216.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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