Another Supernova Threat

The standard spiel from orthodox science is that only supernovae within 100 light years of Earth could wipe us out. It's refreshing to see in an article (at Space.com) this admission:

Astronomers have previously said that any supernova explosion within 100 light-years of Earth would likely be devastating, but beyond 100 light-years, it's not known for sure what the effects might be. However, astronomers have also been keeping an eye on Eta Carinae, a potential supernova about 7,500 light-years away. One factor, astronomers say, is how powerful a given supernova is.

Nicely said. We don't know enough about supernovae to make predictions about one occurring in our vicinity. About all we do know is, all other things being equal, closer is more dangerous. But all supernovae are not equal, so we should still be wary of those that we are not 100% sure of.

Now we have a newly identified threat:

The two stars are in a close binary system called T Pyxidis, located in the Southern Hemisphere constellation Pyxis ("The Compass Box"). Researchers found that the system is only 3,260 light-years from our solar system – far closer than anyone previously thought.

...The new findings suggest the white dwarf, considered close to us by cosmic standards, could eventually go supernova. Gamma radiation emitted by the supernova could threaten the Earth with an energy equivalent to 1,000 simultaneous solar flares.

The production of nitrous oxides in Earth's atmosphere by the gamma rays could completely destroy the ozone layer, astronomers said.

Demise, if it comes, won't be anytime soon, however: Scientists' calculations suggest that the star will explode in about 10 million years...

Or, we could be in for a surprise. Another article says "Suffice it to say that we're far enough from T Pyxidis that we can't really tell exactly how big it is or how quickly it's accreting mass." And it's all just guesswork.

This story is news this week because the stars have been found to be far closer to us than previously thought. Nothing is set in concrete.

Spooky Action from Supernova in 3113BC?

Swiss physicists have unleashed a large-scale experiment that proves what Einstein described as “spooky action at a distance.” Although this has been proven previously, this is the first time it has been shown to work over a long distance.

From Geneva they sent a pair of photons along fiber-optic cables, one to each village. When they measured one photon upon its arrival, the other changed instantaneously —though it was 11 miles away. This weird linkage, called quantum entanglement, raises exotic possibilities like teleportation. When two particles are entangled, the measurement of one immediately affects the other, no matter how distant.

...One might assume that one particle sent an ultrafast signal to its partner, says physicist Nicolas Gisin, a member of the University of Geneva team. If that were true, the quantum communiqué would have traveled at more than 10,000 times the speed of light, something difficult to reconcile with the known laws of physics.

The story is one of the top 100 science stories of 2008, as recently judged by Discover magazine.

I find this topic interesting because it is the foundation of one of the more bizarre ideas I have had for 2012 - perhaps the 2012 event was not predicted by the Mayans, but rather seen. If information can travel faster than light, yet the damage a supernova can cause will travel just under the speed of light, the news could get here thousands of years beforehand.

Therefore it might be possible to deduce, if the information arrived in 3113BC, and the damage will arrive in 2012AD, how far away the object is, and possibly identify it.