Chernobyl A Possible Tourist Attraction?!!!

In the quest for constant excellence (ahhhh back from the emergency room....I swallowed my tongue on that one) I have asked Tim Sayell to be my director of tourism. As we all know, Tim is good at ferreting out unusual articles, he should be equally so in this new venue.

In keeping with his new station, Tim informs me that there is indeed still places to go and things to see, even for the most jaded tourist. If you have not finalized your 2011 calendar yet, let us propose a very unusual destination for the very discriminating taste. Break out your has/mat rad suit (formal if you please) because in 2011 the Ukraine board of Tourism is opening reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant Yes the very same reactor that on April 26, 1986, spewing radiation over a large swath of northern Europe and once had a 30 mile radiation exclusion zone!

Prospective tourists are informed that "There are things to see there if one follows the official route and doesn't stray away from the group,"

Space is limited, make your reservations (and update your will and insurance) as soon as possible. FCFS


All joking aside the Yahoo News article can be found here

Gamma Ray Explosion Blinds Swift

Long before our sun and planets formed and massive star collapsed to form a black hole. On June 21 of this year, the gamma ray burst from this explosion reached Earth and promptly raised havoc with several satellite systems including the Swift Observatory.

"Light" from the explosion was was 140 times brighter than the brightest steady source of X-rays currently known making this the most powerful source of x-rays ever recorded.

The burst was so bright that it temporarily blinded the Swift satellite.

The Telegraph via Dvice

Hubble Finds Unidentified Object in Space

In December of last year I started hearing about a REALLY strange explosion that seem to happen in the middle of no where (earlier BMU article). Well it would appear that far from fading away, astro-physicist have continued to try and understand this very strange occurance.

Here on the Gizmodo's blog, I again see a report on a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal that documents the occurance while Hubble was observing a small section of sky, when the object appeared without any warning. Showed no sign of moving into the area or leaving the area. But after 100 days of observation, the object simply disappeared.

Since the initial observation, ( On February 21, 2006, in the direction of a cluster in Bootes named CL 1432.5+3332.8) not a whole lot more has been uncovered by the scientists.

Because it just appeared and disappeared, scientists are not sure what it is and even spookier "where" it is. Because without movement or being close to something else they can't tell exactly how big it is. It is likely that it was no closer than 130 lightyears, but without more information it could have been as much as 11 billion lightyears away. It wasn't in any known galaxy and was not a super nova, because it did not match any of the spectral records of previously documented supernova. Click article title for Gizmodo release

<- sky & telescope article ->

NASA can now predict a neutron star explosion

Using observations from NASA’s Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), an international team of astronomers has discovered a timing mechanism that allows them to predict exactly when a superdense star will unleash incredibly powerful explosions. The bursts occur on a neutron star (the remnants of a collapsed super nova) which is often part of a binary pair. Hydrogen and helium gas from a companion star spirals onto the neutron star, slowly accumulating on its surface until it heats up to a critical temperature. Suddenly, the hydrogen and helium begin to fuse uncontrollably into heavier elements, igniting a thermonuclear flame that quickly spreads around the entire star. The resulting explosion appears as a bright flash of X-rays - releasing more energy in just 10 to 100 seconds than our Sun radiates in an entire week. Up until now, there has been no way to predict when the next explosion is likely to occur. The key to the discover lies in observations from the RXTE satellite, which can make extremely accurate timing measurements of x-ray emissions from neutron stars as they fuse gasses syphoned off their companion star. On the surface of the neutron star, these gasses fuse at very predictable periods. However as the the bursts of x-rays (which are given off each time hydrogen and helium atoms fuse into heavier elements ) slow down - scientist now know that an explosion is immanent.

Intergalactic Explosion Shocks Astronomers

Astronomers have discovered a cosmic explosion that seems to have come from the middle of nowhere -- thousands of light-years from the nearest galaxy-sized collection of stars, gas, and dust. This "shot in the dark" is surprising because the type of explosion, a long-duration gamma-ray burst, is thought to be powered by the death of a massive star.

Complete article

(hummmmm so it was an explosion big enough to indicate a supermassive star but there never was any star there.... I hear the trekkies now.... the antimatter containment field collapsed in one of the nacelles of a FTL cruiser. hey, works for me!)

in the photo A recent galaxy collision produced the long tail in the Tadpole Galaxy. If GRB 070125 exploded in a similar tail, only Hubble could detect the tail. (Credit: Credit: NASA)

Scientists Predict Big Solar Cycle

Shaun A. Saunders brought this to my attention. (Oh he also said "shades of Curtain Call" for readers info Curtain Call was read on BMU show 34 that's the 12/30/06 show, I am inclined to agree though there is another story called "Last Light that I think works with this one too. Look for "Last Light in the coming weeks on BMU)

Evidence is mounting: the next solar cycle is going to be a big one. Solar cycle 24, due to peak in 2010 or 2011 "looks like its going to be one of the most intense cycles since record-keeping began almost 400 years ago," says solar physicist David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center. He and colleague Robert Wilson presented this conclusion last week at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

Jericho for 11-22-06

This episode of Jericho was something akin to waiting in the dentist's office and hearing the drill do it's worst in the next room. I knew something was going to happen, the wait was killing me and in the end what finally happened was well, confusing. This week Russian Migs and bombers fly over Jericho and drop...ummm food and fliers from China!? What's the first thing that happens? Well yeah after the almost riots and fights the mayor puts all the food off limits because it might be contaminated. The rational used? Well you remember the indians and how they were wiped out with infected blankets?...oh no wait, I have just started with this...so we get the prerequisite amounts or arguments and fights ending with the food being off limits for fear of poison or worse. Then they discover that the parachutes have RFID chips and are American in design. Am I the only one to see Rube Goldberg in this? There were fighters and bombers people! Why do through all the trouble of poison when you had a f...in bomber right there to do the job for you! No the food appears to be some part of an elaborate misdirection. So that was the high points. The rest of the show was 90210 mixed with Days of our lives. The pregnant wife that is jilted for a barmaid but won't tell she is pregnant because she doesn't want him back just for the baby. The son who won't be coming home for the holidays because he is keeping time with another woman. The bickering couple brought together by life's harshness find themselves inexplicably in bed....do I have to go on? I know CBS is trying to cater to a wide audience but this schizophrenic plot is going to alienate more people than it attracts.

False color photo of exploding star

A false-color image taken by Spitzer. The faint blue glow surrounding Cassiopeia A is material energized by the faster-moving forward shock wave. Green, yellow and red primarily represent material that was ejected in the explosion and heated by the slower reverse shock wave. Click article title to link to the story for more information.