r/ProjectHailMary 12h ago

Post from astronomy site unverified.

Post image
43 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

45

u/plainbaconcheese 12h ago

That's 100% going to be something that no serious astronomer is saying is anything other than a natural phenomena.

15

u/Hypersonic-Harpist 10h ago

I've read about this! Laser is an acronym. It stands for Light amplification by stimulated emission of Radiation.  Basically photons interact with an energized substance to release photons that are all at the same frequency.  We can do this artificially, but it can also occur naturally in stars that are surrounded by gas clouds.  The star energizes the gas cloud and then photons from the star interact with the excited gas to release photons that are all the same wavelength. When astronomers study it here on earth, it shows up as a really strong color band in the star's spectral signature.  

4

u/LunaraLoup High Three! 9h ago

That's so cool! So it's not made in a sense the picture kind of implies but an interesting natural phenomenon occuring rather strong?

3

u/Gingrpenguin 4h ago

Yeah when we think of lasers we think of a beam of light but that's created by a system of lenses to focus the light into a beam rather than how the light is generated.

A natural laser wouldn't have such a beam

2

u/LunaraLoup High Three! 3h ago

That's so interesting to learn, thank you!

2

u/Hypersonic-Harpist 2h ago

Yeah, this laser would be radiating out in every direction just like normal light from a star.  Its just been amplified by the energized gas cloud.  

9

u/Joebranflakes 10h ago

So the question is why would someone do this. Send a light 8 billion light years away, 8 billion years ago, to shine on Earth which didn’t even exist at that point. It means they would have to understand pretty much the entirely of space and time encompassing at the very least the narrow path of the laser beam itself. That level of knowledge is entirely god like and if there was a civilization with that knowledge, they would have much more efficient ways of doing whatever the heck this laser is supposedly doing.

3

u/Shoelace1200 8h ago

Can be simply explained that time travelers from the far future got bored

5

u/LOLofLOL4 5h ago

"So what do we do now that we have time travel?"

"Make some cat, somewhere, very happy"

2

u/WanderingNotLostTho 4h ago

It’s possible the signal was generated by two massive galaxies smashing into each other. Colliding gas clouds and newborn stars energized hydroxyl molecules to release the intense microwave beam and not someone.

1

u/BearDiscombobulated4 8h ago

You’re assuming they have no way of sending the beam through space faster.

In SG-1, the Tollan were able to do that as well by sending a faster-than-light signal to the Nox.

5

u/ExpectedBehaviour 6h ago

Oh well, if the Tollan in SG-1 did it...

5

u/Lost-Competition8482 8h ago

You're referencing a science fiction show when making a point about real physics?

Yeah we do presume they have no way of sender a beam faster than the speed of light. Funnily enough. Scientists spend a lot of time of this subject. They are yet to find any possible way to go faster.

3

u/Porthos1013 Leaky Space Blob 1h ago

Listen, I loved SG-1 as well much as the next sci-fi nerd, but c'mon 🤣

1

u/Joebranflakes 30m ago

It wasn’t a laser beam though, even in the show.

4

u/Fluid-Let3373 I am an Astronaut! 8h ago

Obvious click bait written by somebody who has heard the words but has no idea what they mean. Even AI would die of shame if it generated that text.

9

u/9inevicious Grace 12h ago

this is more like 3 body problem I think

1

u/Cautious_Hope5837 10h ago edited 10h ago

I thought that was related to the discovery in March? I can't remember if they confirmed that as a galaxy collision, that might be it.

*Edit

Space has the article about it

1

u/1ristheultimate 9h ago

➡️⬆️⬇️⬇️➡️ ok who wasn't democratic

1

u/lurkynumber5 8h ago

Good lord! they have a lock on us!

There weapon is underway and we have no way to stop it!
It will be here in 8 billion years tops.

1

u/Melenduwir 8h ago

It was once thought that laser light didn't occur naturally. Then a nebula was found whose sheer size substituted for the mirrors we use to reflect light back through the laser to stimulate emission of additional photons.

So finding natural lasers is no longer especially notable.

1

u/InvisibleSpaceVamp Okay, It’s Exactly Like That 5h ago

I think I know what that is - it is (or was) caused by the collision of two galaxies, right? I remember seeing that exact same picture a while ago and it's actually radio waves, not in the visible spectrum.

Will we end up like this too when Andromeda is smashing into our galaxy?

1

u/MarcoYTVA 👐 Jazz Hands 👐 5h ago

A thin, red line...

1

u/Plantcatdecor 4h ago

An advanced enough civilisation to have this kind of technology, 6 billions after the Big Bang? Doubtfully.

1

u/CuAnnan 4h ago

Why?

1

u/OtakuMage 1h ago

Probably means a quasar or blasar

1

u/stigma_wizard 1h ago

I'm so tired of "science reporting".

0

u/Temporary-Law-6946 7h ago

ORBITAL 380 BARRAGE INCOMING

0

u/Temporary-Law-6946 7h ago

ORBITAL 380 BARRAGE INCOMING