Rash of Supernovae

"Erik Max Francis" <max.RemoveThis@alcyone.com> wrote in message
news:416316DD.FA6F3F5E@alcyone.com...
 > Gieljan de Vries wrote:
 >
  >> Sound familiar? Granted, our Milky Way doesn't go Seyfert like Larry
  >> described in At the Core, but the sterile patch in the centre is a bit
  >> reminiscent of what Schaeffer finds in the short story...
 >
 > The rash of supernovae discussed here is also not caused by a chain
 > reaction, as it is in the story. The predicted rash of supernovae is
 > just caused by the collapse of a star-bearing cloud of gas, which
 > inevitably results in some massive stars being formed which, due to
 > their shortened lifespans, go supernovae within only a few tens of
 > millions of years.
 >

Slightly odd way of reporting things.

"Every 20 million years on average, gas pours into the galactic center and
slams together, creating millions of new stars"

and later

"The next starburst in the Milky Way is coming relatively soon, predicts
Stark. "It likely will happen within the next 10 million years.""

err, doesn't that make us halfway through the cycle? i.e. the last one also
happened relatively recently and we survived.

Also, rather lacked detail about limiting factors for absorption of material
at a black hole and the 're-radiation' that would happen.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Rash of Supernovae 

In article <TrN9d.5315$xb.2026@text.news.blueyonder.co.uk>, Keith Butcher
wrote:
 > err, doesn't that make us halfway through the cycle? i.e. the last one also
 > happened relatively recently and we survived.
 >
We're not in the galactic core. we're out in the suburbs (quite a way
out, actually).

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: 57°10'11" N, 02°08'43" W (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Rash of Supernovae