General Chat

A delicate ribbon of gas floats eerily in our galaxy. A contrail from an alien spaceship? A jet from a black-hole?

More likely the latter.

xxxx mick

*looks at the sky*

Where?? :)))

its a very thin section of a supernova remnant caused by a stellar explosion that occurred more than 1,000 years ago.

now thats interesting.

See now I have to ask ......................how do "they" know its a "very thin section of a supernova remnant caused by a stellar explosion" or that it "occurred more than 1,000 years ago"

I blame Eldrick................I have more questions than answers these days, I used to accept everything I read :))

you ask too many question my dear lady, you see if "THEY" say thats what it is, then thats it, cause no one can prove otherwise, so until someone comes up with a better explanation we have to live with what they say.

'They' use spectoscopic analysis to decide what the cloud consists of. Measuring the distance is easy....basic maths.

Its just trigonometry - reduce the problem to a triangle and you have the distance - ie a known measurement for your baseline, then calculate the angle - using sines and cosines ( i cant remember the formula) you can calculate the distance.

The speed of light being 186,000 miles a second, 'they' can then calculate how long it takes light to reach here!

Oh I see Eldrick......................*says she who needs to consult a dictionary or 3* LOL

I'm with Arch:)))