Comments on: Here it comes … http://www.xenosystems.net/here-it-comes/ Involvements with reality Thu, 05 Feb 2015 06:56:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1 By: John Hannon http://www.xenosystems.net/here-it-comes/#comment-104203 Thu, 04 Sep 2014 17:46:51 +0000 http://www.xenosystems.net/?p=3484#comment-104203 The real shock and awe will involve the collision of the central supermassive black holes within each galaxy. Indeed, if Penrose is correct, such an event will be so extraordinarily powerful as to leave an impression in the cosmic background radiation of the next universe in the cycle after this one –

]]> By: admin http://www.xenosystems.net/here-it-comes/#comment-104174 Thu, 04 Sep 2014 16:16:05 +0000 http://www.xenosystems.net/?p=3484#comment-104174 I’ve seen similar things, and (as Alrenous reminds us), galaxies are mostly emptiness, Still, it’s hard to intuitively square this with the incredible video simulation — which seems to rip both galaxies apart during multiple smash ups, utterly devastate the integrity of each, and strew them violently across vast tracts of space.

]]> By: Erik http://www.xenosystems.net/here-it-comes/#comment-104079 Thu, 04 Sep 2014 11:25:11 +0000 http://www.xenosystems.net/?p=3484#comment-104079 I read an estimate that there will be approximately six collisions of individual (pairs of) stars during the galactic collision.

]]> By: Alrenous http://www.xenosystems.net/here-it-comes/#comment-104059 Thu, 04 Sep 2014 10:17:15 +0000 http://www.xenosystems.net/?p=3484#comment-104059 The idea that molecules are mostly empty space is pretty well BS. However, galaxies really are mostly empty. Possibly more so than atoms, though I’m too lazy to do the math. The galaxy scale structure gets comprehensively disrupted but actual collisions / stray planet events would be extraordinarily rare.

]]> By: Mr. Archenemy http://www.xenosystems.net/here-it-comes/#comment-103935 Thu, 04 Sep 2014 02:29:50 +0000 http://www.xenosystems.net/?p=3484#comment-103935 I wonder how calamitous it would actually be on our scale – is anything happening other than stars are having their orbits temporarily disrupted very very very slowly? If humanity had emerged mid-collision, would we even notice anything was happening?

]]> By: vxxc2014 http://www.xenosystems.net/here-it-comes/#comment-103929 Thu, 04 Sep 2014 02:08:56 +0000 http://www.xenosystems.net/?p=3484#comment-103929 I will be taking any counsel on patience with more astronomical sized grains of salt.

]]> By: Hattori http://www.xenosystems.net/here-it-comes/#comment-103909 Thu, 04 Sep 2014 01:11:28 +0000 http://www.xenosystems.net/?p=3484#comment-103909 Have you ever tried Space Engine? It’s a pretty amazing app that lets you travel through a procedurally generated universe with fantastic graphics and scales down to a lot of detail.

http://en.spaceengine.org/
It’s quite heavy though.

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