Automatic Telescope Spots Light-Speed Explosions

According to Einsteinian relativity, the absolute speed limit is the speed of light of approximately 186,000 mi/sec (or 298,000 km/sec).
Some recent observations found large masses of stuff being blown out from dying stars at speeds much closer to this than anything previously observed in astronomy.

Some dying stars smolder into darkness while others quickly shed their coat of hot gases. But some go out with a bang, propelling their remains through the cosmos at more than 99.9997 percent of the speed of light–the maximum speed limit in the universe.

Using a robotic telescope at the European Space Organization’s La Silla Observatory in Chile, called the Rapid Eye Mount (REM) telescope, astronomers have measured once-theoretical speeds of the explosions known as gamma-ray bursts for the first time.

“This is very exciting,” said Stan Woosley, an University of California astronomer and astrophysicist who was not involved in the research. Woosley said the energy found in the bursts “strain the models” dictating how fast matter can go.

The findings are detailed in the latest issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The Chief finds this TRULY far-out stuff very interesting. I forget who it was that said that “The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it’s stranger than we CAN imagine.” The Chief concurs.