VY Canis Majoris

[Rebecca1208]

Firstly, I'd like to apologise for making a duplicate thread - since the Administrators removed the Search button, it's become a lot harder to find threads, and the thread is quite old now, therefore buried away.

I think alot of us by now have heard about VY Canis Majoris, the biggest known start in the Milky Way galaxy. Having looked at a few more pictures, it's kinda scary If EA/Maxis added this, or some of the smaller stars into Spore, I'd be so happy - but seriously, this thing would be larger than the Galactic Core if it was introduced to Spore! Lets take a look...




Big, right? And the part afterwards about the galaxies - my teacher showed us that in a Physics lesson. Really amazing. But he did not mention that larger galaxy - that's unbelievable! I wonder if EA/Maxis would ever consider adding these stars, or possibly, create a new stage that, once travelled to the Galactic Core or a special Black Hole, that takes you to one of these other galaxies...?

Truly amazing.

[Shrooblord]

The following actually is a pretty miserable thing. Once we truly discover lifeforms, say a few hundred lightyears away, it could mean that those lifeforms no longer exist when we find the technology to get to them!

Even worse: once we travel there and come back, seconds may have seemed to passed for us, the ones that traveled, but decades, or even centuries, might have passed when we return! Landing upon the world we left only days ago has completely changed ever since. The seas might have shifted, forests might have been destroyed, for all we know, humans might not be anymore!

You're right. It is truly amazing.

P.S.
Why did the mods remove the Search function?!

[Takben]

It makes you realize how tiny we really are.

[Photon_Genesis]

Yep, VY Canis Mojoris is the Biggest star KNOWN. Not just in out Galaxy..I think :S
I think if it was where our Sun was, it's diameter would reach out to where Saturn is. Amazing, eh?

[Rebecca1208]

Very amazing. And yes, it's the biggest known in our galaxy - who knows what's out there!

Shrooblord- For space travel/time, apparently useing tiny black holes to power star ships is very effective. Can't remember everything, but it can take up to 3.? years to reach star system... something >_< I need to find that article again...

[Takben]

You could make something like in the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, with their infinate imporbablility drive. With that infact you could do pretty much anything...

[Shrooblord]

Originally Posted by Rebecca1208

Very amazing. And yes, it's the biggest known in our galaxy - who knows what's out there!

Shrooblord- For space travel/time, apparently useing tiny black holes to power star ships is very effective. Can't remember everything, but it can take up to 3.? years to reach star system... something >_< I need to find that article again...

It would take you, the traveler 3.? years, but it would seem like 5000 years to observers, the people that remain on planet Earth.
This means that when you return "6 years" later, decades could have passed!

Takben, the infinite improbability drive is pretty... improbable.
(Whew, can someone spellcheck that? )

[Rebecca1208]

Ah, I completely forgot about the whole speed-of-light thing where you actually slow down ^^'

That still confuses me But yes, point taken.

[Shrooblord]

Although I sound like I know what I'm talking about, it still confuses me too... It's just one of those things that I assume are correct. One of those laws of physics that "just work like that for some reason".

Lol, do I now sound less credible?

[123defacto]

If we ever are going to do a full-scale manned exploration, we have to invent shortcuts. Travelling to our closest star, Alpha centauri take 3,5 years at the speed of LIGHT and then it is almost impossible to even get close to that speed, and if we ever do, we have that irritating little time trouble.
So if we ever are going to get there we have to invent mini wormholes, or Warp drive

[Inthractus]

Originally Posted by 123defacto

If we ever are going to do a full-scale manned exploration, we have to invent shortcuts. Travelling to our closest star, Alpha centauri take 3,5 years at the speed of LIGHT and then it is almost impossible to even get close to that speed, and if we ever do, we have that irritating little time trouble.
So if we ever are going to get there we have to invent mini wormholes, or Warp drive

After the sun its tiny little Proxima Centauri who is the nearst star, which is part of the Alpha Centauri binary system, well actually its three stars orbiting one another. Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf, one of the smallest, dimmest, commonest and longest lived of stars.

My favourite Supergiant is Alpha Orionis, better known as Betelgeuse. Its only 500 lights years from Earth, not as far as other stars. It forms the shoulder of Orion and is prominent in the winter sky, when the constellation of Orion is visible in the Northern Hemisphere. The name Betelgeuse is apparently corrupted from the Arabic meaning "Shoulder of the great one."
Of course being a Supergiant Betelgeuse is a star in its senior phase of life. When it was in its prime it was probably a blue/white star. The hottest brightest stars in their prime shine with a bluish tinge to them, which is rather ironic considering that we associate blue with cold! Of course hot, bright stellar giants are the shortest lived of stars but they are important because they create all the heavier elements that make up you and me and almost everything we see around us.
Stars like the Sun use a process know as the proton-proton chain to generate engery, where atoms of hydrogen are fused to form Deuterium, which inturn fuses with another hydrogen atom to become helium3, this then inturn fuses with another helium 3 to become helium4, obiously two protons are lost during this process. The proton-proton chain occurs at extrememly high tempretures of around 15 million k (k for Kelvin), to get that in centigrades deduct 273.15.