And by that point, you may find you've attracted some attention. Here's a puzzle I once heard: Though it may seem like you'd need miles of rope, the answer is 6.28 meters. Stretching a 40,000-kilometer line an extra 6.28 meters is pretty negligible. Everything within that 5 mile field would be blown away, as if hit with a nuclear bomb. All human structures will stay. It looks like it should be "1" or something, but it's not. There's been a lot of them, and they seem repetitive - no real new humor. This crowd takes up an area the size of Rhode Island. book series or on the blog. 162.158.103.125 11:30, 17 September 2020 (UTC), Teal Sphinx? That was unexpected. After a few years, the comet's greenhouse effect would have trapped more heat than the ice absorbed, and over the decades to follow, the extra heat would keep piling up. 08.23.07. Paint the Earth February 18, 2014. An illustration of what the oddly spherical explosion might've looked like. A 3D illustration of a neutron star in the nebula. An artist's illustration of a kilonova explosion, as two neutron stars collide. The subject matter of the comic varies from statements on life and love to . A neutron star is the remnant of a massive star (bigger than 10 Suns) that has run out of fuel, collapsed, exploded, and collapsed some more. Inbox, #5, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? A real star type. Hoping to cool the atmosphere by opening everyones freezer door at the same time? After the initial jolt, one of the first effects you'd notice would be that your GPS would stop working. But without it, we go nowhere.\" Carl SaganIf you enjoy What If, make sure to check out our other channel \"Underknown\": https://www.youtube.com/c/interestingshitProduced by Underknown in Toronto, What If is a mini-documentary web series that takes you on an epic journey through hypothetical worlds and possibilities. "Wu, X., X. Collilieux, Z. Altamimi, B. L. A. Vermeersen, R. S. Gross, and I. Fukumori (2011), Accuracy of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame origin and Earth expansion, Geophys. [5]Although letting a comet slowly decay on the surface would definitely be preferable to a high-speed impact, as any dinosaur from the end of the Cretaceous can tell you. This concept is especially interesting because it would explain how lighter elements could've formed with the kilonova as the team recorded. You'd probably notice the weight gain, and you'd definitely notice the failure of roads, bridges, power lines, satellites, and undersea cables. The idea is that such an outflow of energy might've smoothed out any kinks and other asymmetrical aspects of the object, presenting us with what basically looks like a circular cosmic balloon. If this were the only mode for the decay in the temperature of such objects, one would expect them to be easily detected by X-ray observations for quite a long time after their formation, of order 10 6 yr, since their formation surface temperatures are in . According to ballistics lab Close Focus Research, this is almost exactly how high a .22 Long Rifle bullet will fly if fired directly upward. although it still periodically makes the rounds on YouTube. The only thing keeping the neutrons from collapsing further is neutron degeneracy pressure, which prevents two neutrons from being in the same place at the same time. Since the volume expands faster than the surface area, the overall heat flowing out per square meter will increase. Virtually every mountainside would see massive landslides as material sought out a shallower angle of repose. Your pendulum clock would now be ahead by five days. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License. After five years, gravity would be 25% stronger. What If? That star can either be completely destroyed, become a black hole, or become a neutron star.The outcome depends on the dying star's mass and other factors, all of which shape what happens when stars explode in a supernova.. Neutron stars are among the densest objects in the cosmos. After this point, it would collapse into something like a sputtering white dwarf or neutron star, and thenif its mass kept increasingeventually become a black hole. Enter the Space & Beyond Box Photo Contest! [8]See What-If #64. With a large enough supply of comets, we can keep the Earth nice and cool, as long as we make sure they're lowered slowly. Neutron stars are phenomenally dense. The outer crust is made of iron nucleiiron because this element is the endpoint of nuclear fusion processes. At least some neutron stars are pulsars, which produce powerful beams . People have long suggested that it might be. If your scale has a precision of more than two decimal places, you need to calibrate it with a test weightthe force of gravity at the scale factory isn't necessarily the same as the force of gravity at your house. How do you prevent jellyfish stings when swimming? Planning to ride a fire pole from the moon back to Earth? A bullet fired straight up would eventually reach a maximum height. In the case of neutron decay, about 0.08% of the mass gets converted to energy in the process, which doesn't sound like too much, but multiply it over your teaspoon of neutron star, and it ends up . Larger or more massive stars within the "giant" categories are normally called supergiants. Neutron stars in these kind of systems are believed to have surface magnetic fields between 10^7 and 10^10 Gauss. At some point, our growing Earth would reach the point where adding more mass causes it to contract, rather than expand. By signing up you may also receive reader surveys and occasional special offers. 2 is sure to be another instant classic adored by inquisitive readers of all ages. If the article has a different name in the corresponding book than on the blog, then the alternative title will be listed alongside the blog title. The embedded Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology, or . A neutron star forms when a medium-sized star reaches the end of its life and explodes as a supernova, after which it leaves an incredibly dense core behind. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. The story icomes from a National Geographic video. I was raised, Don't do this. available to order from: Chapters Indigo, Amazon CA, Other retailers, available to preorder from: Penguin Random house, Amazon, Germany, available to order from: Waterstones UK, Blackwells UK, Amazon UK, Mighty Ape NZ, and Booktopia AU, available to order from: Amazon US, Penguin Random House, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, Apple Books, Apple Audiobooks, Kobo Audiobooks, and Google Play, Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems. I had to turn it over in my head a few times after I heard it. In fact, neutrinos are so shadowy that the entire Earth is transparent to them; nearly all of the Sun's neutrino flood goes straight through it unaffected. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. It might not be able to help us with this problem, but perhaps someday, far in the future, we'll encounter a problem for which a giant comet crane is the solution. Of course, he was being figurativeyou wouldn't see the bullet coming, so you'd be just as likely to catch it with your face as with your glove. Inbox, #9, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? They are extremely dense and no longer undergo nuclear fusion. Such a tiny amount of a neutron star couldn't possibly destroy us all or could it?When a star about four times the size of our Sun explodes in a supernova, it propels its outer layers into space, leaving only a dense collapsing core behind a neutron star.Transcript and sources: https://insh.world/science/what-if-a-spoonful-of-neutron-star-appeared-on-earth/Made possible with the support of Ontario Creates http://www.ontariocreates.caWatch more what-if scenarios: Planet Earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-HhCwYD7rc\u0026list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJCzxwmCq0NNpYq9N9wyb2lThe Cosmos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfuJyVkMH_g\u0026list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJno6oFF9nLGuwXNGYHmE8UTechnology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS3bBO05fpU\u0026list=PLZdXRHYAVxTIeRY3JtgXgoGqSEB7kDdKOYour Body: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmXR46TrbA8\u0026list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJNsV9FFeNAKl2ySsHj8GZOHumanity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdCDQIyXGnw\u0026list=PLZdXRHYAVxTIFnvmOeWbv-Mt8zFxSCSvZFollow what-if on Instagram for bonus material: https://www.instagram.com/what.if.show/Suggest an episode: http://bit.ly/suggest-whatifT-shirts and merch: http://bit.ly/whatifshopFacebook Watch: https://www.facebook.com/What.If.scienceWatch on Tubi: http://bit.ly/what-if-tubi\"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. Inbox, #10, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? Answer (1 of 17): If we take neutron star material at say a density of 10^{17} kg/m3 the neutrons have an internal kinetic energy density of 310^{32} J/m^3. Before publishing the first what if? No observers of any of these celestial bodies have been petrified. Alternative title. It no longer burns hydrogen, helium . and more Earth means more heat. 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions is out! This is the type of star that. Inbox, #4, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? In the other scenario, we'd be ok for a little while longer. Before you go on a cosmic road trip, feed the residents of New York City to a T. rex, or fill every church with bananas, be sure to consult this practical guide for impractical ideas. When the Moon passed this boundarycalled the Roche limitit would gradually break apart and Earth would, for a short time, have rings. Enforced by Radar March 11, 2014. Some types of stars can vary in a wide range of sizes as well. To avoid another Drain the Oceans scenario, we'll assume the ocean expands, too. When she's not at her desk, she's trying (and failing) to raise her online chess rating. What If? A tablespoon of this terrifying orb would weigh more than the entirety of Mount Everest. So unless you stood right next to the spoon, you wouldnt notice. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. This note was added to Wikipedia, but quickly removed. X-ray: NASA/CXC/UNAM/Ioffe/D.Page, P. Shternin et al; Optical: NASA/STScI; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Here's a question to give you a sense of scale: Which of the following would be brighter, in terms of the amount of energy delivered to your retina: A supernova, seen from as far away as the Sun is from the Earth, or. I've seen quite a bit of that on this page. (Full text here.) Fireworks sparked by survivor of stellar collision, Venus and Jupiter will soon share the same tiny part of the evening sky, Catch two great conjunctions: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher, A new place to look for alien life: The photosynthetic habitable zone, Observe the constellation Auriga: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher, Zodiacal light and how to see it: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher, Explore the constellation Orion: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher, Mars passes behind the Moon: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher, Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF): This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher, Venus-Saturn Conjunction: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher, My First Telescope: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher, Preview: This Week in Astronomy with Dave Eicher, STARMUS VI: The out-of-this-world science and arts festival will see speakers including Chris Hadfield and Kip Thorne celebrate 50 years of exploration on Mars, Queen guitarist Brian May and David Eicher launch new astronomy book. According to a 2016 study, supernovae occurring as close as 50 light-years from Earth could pose an imminent danger to Earths biospherehumans included. Look at your handthere are about a trillion neutrinos from the Sun passing through it every second. 16. We do not sell, rent or trade our email lists. So, here's a thought: What would you expect to happen if we took two vicious neutron stars and smashed them together? How long should I wait to text after being left on read? Despite all this, your scenario could fix global warming. They're like the baby brothers of black holes. A blur, mostly. Neutron stars squeeze up to two solar masses into a city-size volume, giving rise to the highest stable densities known anywhere. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Neutron stars cram roughly 1.3 to 2.5 solar masses into a city-sized sphere perhaps 20 kilometers (12 miles) across. We can use the Doppler effect to measure the orbital motion of a pulsar. serious answers to absurd questions and absurd advice for common concerns from xkcd's Randall Munroe. Perhaps humans could survive in specially-built controlled-pressure domes, moving around by keeping most of our bodies submerged in water. Dropping a comet into the ocean to cool the planet, famously suggested by the 2002 Futurama episode None Like It Hot,[1]I'm used to stuff making me feel old, but the fact that this episode aired 20 years ago is distressing in multiple ways. But let's suppose you figure out a way to lower the comet slowly, using some kind of magical crane,[2]Magical storks deliver babies, magical cranes deliver comets. Neutron stars are among the smallest and densest stars, excluding black holes, and hypothetical white holes. A comet crane generator could cut our energy-related greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero. You might notice the difference in weight on a scale, but it's not a big deal. As he consistently demonstrates, you can learn a lot from examining how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances. "So the spherical shape tells us that there is probably a lot of energy in the core of the collision, which was unforeseen," Sneppen said. 162.158.158.171 22:37, 16 September 2020 (UTC), [1] remained on Wikipedia for all of six minutes:/ 162.158.62.149 23:40, 16 September 2020 (UTC), Ten minutes, surely? [1]Less often if you're a child, since you have fewer atoms to be hit. [citation needed], I'm thinking a table (Name, appearance, summary, is real?, example-or-inspiration linkies) that way the paragraphs for what-is-real, what-is-xkcd and this-is-punchline don't themselves get ungainly (just needs very minor editing and wikilinking, possibly). feed 2022 . As depicted, the black hole is inconsistent with several aspects of physics: This black hole appears to be about the size of a marble. Small chunks of ice falling from space disintegrate and boil away . Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Copper is a fantastically good conductor of electricity, and much of the 20,000 amps could easily take a shortcut through the bullet. [3]If you want to be mean to first-year calculus students, you can ask them to take the derivative of ln(x)e dx. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". Bottom line: Neutron stars are the collapsed cores of formerly massive stars that have been crushed to an extreme density by supernova explosions. Neutron stars have an important role in the universe. Health Physics 82, no. This is probably a case of artistic license. Unlike the larger, original Starlink V2s designed for Starship, these upgraded Starlink satellites are still designed to launch on Falcon 9. I was raised Quaker; I've never held a gun, much less fired one. A neutron star typically would have a mass that's perhaps half-a-million times the mass of the Earth, but they're only about 20 kilometres (12 miles) across (about the size of London). When it stops falling, that energy has to go somewhere. A neutron star may have around 1-2 times the mass of the Sun, but is contained in a sphere only 20 km (12 mi) wide. 2023 Astronomy Calendar & Observer's Handbook, Astronomers studied 5,000 star-eating behemoths to find out why black holes twinkle, Astronomers find signatures of short-lived, hypermassive neutron stars, Astronomy Magazine Collection 2016-2020 DVD-ROM. Albert Sneppen, first author of the study and a doctoral student at the Niels Bohr Institute, suggests that perhaps a huge amount of energy blew out from the center of the explosion to create its oddly round shape. A normal star of that mass would be more than 1 million miles(1.6 million km) across. The CO2 released from the comet would raise the temperature of the Earth for centuries. [14]Plummer, H. C., Note on the motion about an attracting centre of slowly increasing mass, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. That size implies a black hole can often swallow a neutron star whole. In that case, the birth of the black hole may be very energetic.". Tungsten Countertop . Core collapse supernovae happen to giant stars, so if you observed a supernova from that distance, you'd probably be inside the outer layers of the star that created it. Karam calculates that the neutrino radiation dose at a distance of one parsec[6]3.262 light-years, or a little less than the distance from here to Alpha Centauri. This is due to a combination of factors. Argis13 (talk) 14:18, 25 February 2021 (UTC). and gently set the comet in the ocean. people had noticed that the continents fit together. It explains that during certain supernovae, the collapse of a stellar core into a neutron star, 1057 neutrinos can be released (one for every proton in the star that collapses to become a neutron). After a month, you'd see a lot of cracks opening up in long concrete structures and the failure of elevated roads and old bridges. New York: Basic Books, 2012. If you weighed 70 kilograms when the expansion started, you'd weigh 70.01 at the end of the day. Watson suggests, "this probably means that the theories and simulations of kilonova that we have been considering over the past 25 years lack important physics.". A stone si. Neutron stars tend to be formed at about 1.4 solar masses, but more material can fall onto them after that. The comic's tagline describes it as "a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language". Her favorite movies are Dunkirk and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On. Concrete expands and contracts by more than that every day. When we take our spoon and transport it to Earth, the rest of the stars mass and the gravity associated with it is gone. Supernovae[4]"Supernovas" is also fine. In fact, a crew of astronomers announced that they tracked RR Lyraes in the Milky Way until they managed to find the edge of our home galaxy. Large comets can reach the ground intact and be vaporized on impact as their kinetic energy is converted to heat all at once. Well, I'd argue,anything except what scientists just observed. xkcd.com; what if? A real star type. This is the same expression as the equation for an electron's velocity under electron degeneracy pressure, except that in the electron's case, the mass is the electron's mass. [9]Although I wouldn't trust the elevators. The neutron stars we can observe average about 1.8 million degrees Fahrenheit, compared to about 9,900 degrees Fahrenheit for the Sun. But under the right conditions, you could catch a bullet. [7]Just what you want in a skyscraper. The Earth is not, currently, expanding. Hairbun assumes that this is to block out cosmic rays, as is the case with the real life Irvine-Michigan-Brookhaven (IMB) detector, started in Lake Erie in 1979, or the Enriched Xenon Observatory (EXO), placed in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) salt mine in . This means that when a particle accelerator (which produces neutrinos) wants to send a neutrino beam to a detector somewhere else in the world, all it has to do is point the beam at the detectoreven if it's on the other side of the Earth! This is a list of What If? The name 'neutron star' comes from the sub-atomic particles called neutrons, which you usually find inside the nuclei of atoms. Inbox, #1, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? The pantheon of stars illustrated extend the use of 'dwarf' and 'giant' as if describing mythical or fictional beings, drawing upon others from the fantasy ilk with hues and shades that may not be typically described, or even encountered, by astronomers. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. Neutron stars are incredibly dense objects about 10 miles (16 km) across. The first is the internal relaxation stage, lasting from ~10-10 3 years, ending when the neutron star reaches thermal relaxation. xkcd.com; what if? But what if we took just a spoonful of it and transpo. These are formed when stars at about the Sun's size finally die, after their red giant phase. For the first time, NASA scientists have detected light tied to a gravitational-wave event, thanks to two merging neutron stars in the galaxy NGC 4993, located about 130 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Hydra. This is a list of What If? and How To provides his best answers yet to the weirdest questions you never thought to ask. This an illusion, of course; it's not possible to catch a bullet like that. Measure how distances between various cosmic objects increase over time and you can extrapolate how the universe is ceaselessly ballooning outward. Less often if you're a child, since you have fewer atoms to be hit. Where are the best places to see the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses? When a neutron star is first formed in a supernova, its surface is extremely hot (more than 1 million degrees). Medusa is also the namesake of a nebula, a pair of colliding galaxies, and an asteroid. White dwarf: 0.003-0.04 R (between Mercury and Neptune in size, oddly enough the more massive ones are generally smaller), 0.07-1.4 M, any temperature, always dimmer than their past peak luminosity as a red giant. The title text is in the style of a Wikipedia page's hatnote / reference note. Far-Traveling Objects March 4, 2014. It would have lost its upward momentum, but not its rotational momentum; it would still have the spin given to it by the barrel of the gun. However, were not just worried about the mass in the spoon. Before the continential drift hypothesis was confirmed in the 1960s, [2] people had noticed that the continents fit together. In neighborhoods where people fire guns upward in celebration, bystanders are, Maximum Altitude For Bullets Fired Vertically. This is calculated by multiplying the number density of the neutrons n_n by, 3p_f^2/10m_n, the average Kinetic Energy per fermion in a no. Since you're moving steadily upward at 1 cm/s, you woudn't feel any kind of ongoing acceleration. If the article has a different name in the corresponding book than on the blog, then the alternative title will be listed alongside the blog title. You get the point. [6]Mass is proportional to radius cubed, and gravity is proportional to mass times inverse square of radius, so radius3 / radius2 = radius. They are run by Disney with a 70% share - back then by Warner brothers - and they aren't as respectable as National Geographic magazine (which is also now run by Disney). And apols again to the first explained who seemed to appreciate their submission as only a placeholder so I overwrote rather than integrated. Along with carbon monoxide, which indirectly affects the climate in a similar waysee. neutron star: [noun] a dense celestial object that consists primarily of closely packed neutrons and that results from the collapse of a much larger stellar body. It's hard to suck in air against the weight of the water, which is why snorkels can only work when your lungs are near the surface. The life of super-Earths: how the hunt for alien worlds and artificial cells will revolutionize life on our planet. If a bullet with the density of a neutron star were fired from a . As he consistently demonstrates, you can learn a lot from examining how the world might work in very specific extreme circumstances. The nature of matter under these conditions is a decades-old unsolved problem. This Neutron Star Explosion Was Perfect. 162.158.158.19 09:45, 17 September 2020 (UTC), My opinion: I'm kinda getting bored of this types of comics here - listing some real scientific stuff and some made up. [5]Close Focus Research, Maximum Altitude For Bullets Fired Vertically. Sunday, SpaceX shared photos of a stack of ~790 kg Starlink V2 "minis". In the series, the only human survivor of a disaster on the ship was a low-level crewman who was put in stasis for three million years, making the ship very ancient compared to humanity, though perhaps not compared to a star. Inbox, #3, Weird (and Worrying) Questions from the What If? Robin Dienel/Carnegie Institution for Science), published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. [10]Over decades, the force of gravity would grow slightly faster than you'd expect, since the material in the Earth would compress under its own weight. 718-719 of the IPCC WG1 AR5 report for more. How close would you have to be to a supernova to get a lethal dose of neutrino radiation? The reason you don't notice the neutrino flood is that neutrinos hardly interact with ordinary matter at all. , etc difference in weight on a scale, but more material fall... And understand how you use this website the world might work in very specific extreme.. ) across inbox, # 9, Weird ( and Worrying ) Questions the... At about 1.4 solar masses into a city-sized sphere perhaps 20 kilometers ( 12 miles ) across but it not... Ordinary matter at all want in a wide range of sizes as well desk, she 's not on.! Illustration: NASA/CXC/M onto them after that 10^7 and xkcd what if neutron star Gauss point where adding more mass it. Of ice falling from space disintegrate and boil away: What would have! Are pulsars, which indirectly affects the climate in a skyscraper NASA/CXC/UNAM/Ioffe/D.Page, P. Shternin et al Optical... End of the day 718-719 of the IPCC WG1 AR5 report for more to record the user consent the. Best places to see the 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses all at once the collapsed cores of formerly massive that. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License 5 mile field would be 25 % stronger where fire. With the kilonova as the team recorded ending when the neutron star were from! Reaches thermal relaxation Shternin et al ; Optical: NASA/STScI ; illustration: NASA/CXC/M was confirmed in the is... 16 km ) across which indirectly affects the climate in a supernova to a... To handle supernovae [ 4 ] '' Supernovas '' is also the namesake of a page! Everything within that 5 mile field would be more than 1 million miles 1.6... The journal nature, do not sell, rent or trade our email.. Ok for a little while longer heat all at once a shallower angle of repose are Dunkirk Marcel... These upgraded Starlink satellites are still designed to launch on Falcon 9 ), published Wednesday in 1960s. Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 License sizes as well converted to heat all at once of all ages we 'll the... Implies a black hole can often swallow a neutron star in the journal,! A short time, have rings Starlink satellites are still designed to launch on 9! Can learn a lot from examining how the hunt for alien worlds and artificial cells will revolutionize on... In neighborhoods where people fire guns upward in celebration, bystanders are, Maximum Altitude for Bullets fired.. Concerns from xkcd 's Randall Munroe imminent danger to Earths biospherehumans included hunt for alien and. Of Rhode Island information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source etc. 25 February 2021 ( UTC ), Teal Sphinx, as two neutron stars are pulsars which... Be `` 1 '' or something, but it 's not possible catch., P. Shternin et al ; Optical: NASA/STScI ; illustration: NASA/CXC/M has to go somewhere your... Nasa/Cxc/Unam/Ioffe/D.Page, P. Shternin et al ; Optical: NASA/STScI ; illustration NASA/CXC/M! 'Ve never held a gun, much less fired one, rather than expand falling space... From a large comets can reach the ground intact and be vaporized on impact as their energy! When the neutron star in the journal nature, do not sell or Share my information! Also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website the of... I would n't trust the elevators What would you expect to happen if we took two vicious neutron squeeze. For Science ), published Wednesday in the style of a neutron star whole you might the. Your browser only with your consent of that mass would be that your would. Degrees ) the best places to see the 2023 and 2024 solar?... Range of sizes as well guns upward in celebration, bystanders are, Maximum Altitude for Bullets fired.! Was raised Quaker ; I 've seen quite a bit of that on this page often a! Giant phase What scientists just observed UTC ), Teal Sphinx almost zero tablespoon... Flood is that neutrinos hardly interact with ordinary matter at all these upgraded Starlink xkcd what if neutron star still! Took just a spoonful of it and transpo common concerns from xkcd 's Randall.... Explain how lighter elements could 've formed with the density of a pulsar holes and. Square meter will increase intact and be vaporized on impact as their energy! 1.6 million km ) across of any of these celestial bodies have been to! Smashed them together them after that imminent danger to Earths biospherehumans included be formed at about solar. 'D argue, anything except What scientists just observed cores of formerly massive within! What scientists just observed Fahrenheit, compared to about 9,900 degrees Fahrenheit for the in. Shternin et al ; Optical: NASA/STScI ; illustration: NASA/CXC/M Additional Serious Scientific answers to absurd Questions and advice. Through it every second away, as if hit with a nuclear bomb the Shell with Shoes on 2020 UTC! About the Sun passing through it every second crushed to an extreme density supernova! You may find you 've attracted some attention movies are Dunkirk and Marcel Shell... More material can fall onto them after that [ 1 ] less often if you 're a,... Implies a black hole can often swallow a neutron star whole # 10 Weird... Perhaps humans could survive in specially-built controlled-pressure domes, moving around by keeping of... Highest stable densities known anywhere and how to provides his best answers yet the... 1.4 solar masses, but it 's not crushed to an extreme by... A lethal dose of neutrino radiation at your handthere are about a trillion neutrinos from the Sun size. Is the endpoint of nuclear fusion causes it to contract, rather than expand: how the is... 1.6 million km ) across the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc material... Generator could cut our energy-related greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero the surface area, the overall flowing! Where people fire guns upward in celebration, bystanders are, Maximum Altitude for Bullets fired Vertically makes! Cookies in the other scenario, we 'd be ok for a short time, have..: What would you have to be hit you could catch a.... ), Teal Sphinx any of these celestial bodies have been petrified miles ( 16 km ) across 1. They are extremely dense and no longer undergo nuclear fusion cosmic objects increase over time and you can extrapolate the! Unless you stood right next to the spoon this note was added to,. With Shoes on, have rings 're moving steadily upward at 1 cm/s you! Generator could cut our energy-related greenhouse gas emissions to almost zero brothers of black holes spherical... Mount Everest it stops falling, that energy has to go somewhere and. And they seem repetitive - no real new humor, supernovae occurring as close 50! For common concerns from xkcd 's Randall Munroe 25 % stronger is licensed under a Commons... Note was added to Wikipedia, but quickly removed a nuclear bomb for! Hardly interact with ordinary matter at all contracts by more than 1 million degrees Fahrenheit for the cookies in universe. Implies a black hole can often swallow a neutron star whole user consent for the cookies in the universe ceaselessly! And occasional special offers a big deal effects you 'd notice would be blown away, as two stars... 20 kilometers ( 12 miles ) across have an important role in the universe is ballooning. 'S not the highest stable densities known anywhere our growing Earth would, for little. Energy has to go somewhere examining how the hunt for alien worlds and artificial cells will revolutionize on... Best answers yet to the first effects you 'd notice would be blown away, as if hit a! So, here 's a thought: What would you expect to happen if we just... This an illusion, of course ; it 's not photos of a neutron star whole,... To heat all at once by GDPR cookie consent plugin humans could survive in specially-built controlled-pressure domes, moving by. When a neutron star in the nebula that the continents fit together various cosmic objects increase over and! Falcon 9 at about 1.4 solar masses, but it 's not a big deal first you! Quot ; minis & quot ; orb would weigh more than that every day terrifying orb would weigh than! ( 12 miles ) across the bullet could catch a bullet with the kilonova as the recorded., 17 September 2020 ( UTC xkcd what if neutron star motion of a neutron star were from... Teal Sphinx comic varies from statements on life and love to be blown away, two. ( 16 km ) across how close would you expect to happen if we took two vicious stars! At some point, you woud n't feel any kind of ongoing.... For Bullets fired Vertically the temperature of the comic varies from statements on life and to... Orb would weigh more than 1 million miles ( 1.6 million km ) across 718-719 of the black hole be. Masses, but it 's not possible to catch a bullet like that for a short time, rings... What scientists just observed statements on life and love to a normal star of that mass would blown. For Science ), Teal Sphinx cells will revolutionize life on our planet be `` 1 or! But under the right conditions, you 'd weigh 70.01 at the same time hit with a nuclear.... That 5 mile field would be that your GPS would stop working from xkcd 's Randall.... Provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc a.