Quote: “Glance at the night sky and what you see is history
and lots of it—the stars not as they are now but as they were when their light
left them.”
Comment: This fact has always been very interesting to me.
To think that not only did the “twinkle” we see in the sky happen years and
years ago, but that the star that the twinkle came from, had such a massive
amount of energy and light that we would be able to see it from so far away. Toward
the beginning of the article, the author introduces something called a
supernova. These supernovas are essentially giant blast of energy succeeding
from a death of a star. To this point, the author mentions the power of one of
a supernova “a trillion hydrogen bombs”.
After learning this, I thought about how insignificant I am to the universe.
I mean of one hydrogen bomb can wipe out a city (and me easily). A trillion can
effortlessly wipe out the earth. Furthermore, there would be no way to tame
this power, for it is more powerful than anything of this earth.
Questions: What is the possibility of a supernova occurring close
enough to earth that it may have some effect on the planet’s well being? Can
this power be tamed? Has it been thought of?
