Hard Light Productions Forums

General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: dragonsniper on December 13, 2008, 03:12:39 pm

Title: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: dragonsniper on December 13, 2008, 03:12:39 pm
Title says it all. Would there be any nebula's in Capella after the Shivan's destroyed it?
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: tinfoil on December 13, 2008, 03:16:28 pm
probably eventually
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: dragonsniper on December 13, 2008, 03:18:10 pm
After how many years...?
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Mobius on December 13, 2008, 03:20:46 pm
Why not? Supernovae are important for the creation of nebulae and new star systems.

 If I remember well Warzone featured a nebula in which the player found the debris of a Sathanas.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: tinfoil on December 13, 2008, 03:31:51 pm
After how many years...?

not too many i would think. the gases and stuff would be floating around pretty soon after the supernova
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Mars on December 13, 2008, 03:36:14 pm
IIRC someone said that the expansion would rapidly cool down the gas.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Mobius on December 13, 2008, 03:41:23 pm
Rapidly still means that it'll take a while before ships can pass through it unaided.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: dragonsniper on December 13, 2008, 03:50:57 pm
Maybe I should clarify a bit. I mean nebula as in the background nebula (from other system nearby perhaps.)
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Mobius on December 13, 2008, 03:51:46 pm
Eh? :wtf:
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: dragonsniper on December 13, 2008, 03:56:11 pm
This is what I mean

[attachment stolen by Slimey Goober]
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Jeff Vader on December 13, 2008, 03:58:41 pm
Uh... as in, would there be any stars if Earth was destroyed?
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Ziame on December 13, 2008, 04:05:04 pm
Well, dragonsniper, these kind of Capella will be seen in closest system  hundreds of years from now. You know, for example, the Sun you see on the sky is seven minutes old, get my drift?
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: KappaWing on December 13, 2008, 04:17:13 pm
Dude what are you trying to say?

1) Would Capella be visible as a nebula from the perspective of another star system?

Not for at least several years, since stars are several light years away on average. This is assuming they are nearby stars.

2) Would pre-existing nebulas be visible from Capella after the supernova?

Probably not. You would likely see a nebula all around you, but that would be ionized gas from the supernova, not distant nebulas. If you are close enough to the neutron star, there would be no nebula at all, since all the gas was ejected at high velocity.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Flipside on December 13, 2008, 04:20:52 pm
Also, with the expansion rate, even at the velocities that ionised gas is travelling at during a supernove, it will take a decade or two for the cloud to become large enough to be visible.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: dragonsniper on December 13, 2008, 04:23:47 pm
Hmmmm... Not really what I wanted to hear, but ok.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: castor on December 13, 2008, 07:48:12 pm
Also, with the expansion rate, even at the velocities that ionised gas is travelling at during a supernove, it will take a decade or two for the cloud to become large enough to be visible.
Doesn't that depend on the distance you're viewing it from? I'd digest a nebula there shortly after, considering the loose physics FS is using.
EDIT: never mind, I see he is referring to "nearby systems" later down.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Mars on December 13, 2008, 07:56:00 pm
Any systems nearby enough to see the nebula by eye within a decade would probably be hit by all sorts of lovely radiation as well.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Rodo on December 13, 2008, 07:56:24 pm
if there's a nebula after an eventual supernova, it would not be visible to the naked eye, the ones that we can see are there because they already have thousands of years and they have developed stars that emit light and therefore make the nebula visible. (I guess)
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: KappaWing on December 13, 2008, 09:11:02 pm
Also, with the expansion rate, even at the velocities that ionised gas is travelling at during a supernove, it will take a decade or two for the cloud to become large enough to be visible.

Really? Even if the supernova was as little as 4ly away?

Most supernovae we observe within our galaxy are about 50,000ly away.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Droid803 on December 13, 2008, 09:12:17 pm
Well, to be visible without a telescope, yes, it'd probably take some time, even for a system relatively close by.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Snail on December 13, 2008, 09:13:11 pm
And then we have the time lag caused by the distances traveled by the light.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Retsof on December 13, 2008, 09:25:07 pm
Well, the crab nebula supernova was visible in daylight (the "guest star" in ancient chinese records).  How far away was that?
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Snail on December 13, 2008, 09:26:01 pm
Only about 7 light years IIRC.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Retsof on December 13, 2008, 09:26:58 pm
Really?  Huh.  I thought it was farther.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Snail on December 13, 2008, 10:12:34 pm
No, wait, it's 6 THOUSAND light years. My mistake.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: KappaWing on December 13, 2008, 10:47:05 pm
I think if a star four light years away, like Alpha Centuari (closest star) went supernova, I think it would almost instantly create a nebula that would cover a good portion of the sky.... Delayed by four years of course.

I'm assuming a 1987A type explosion.
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Retsof on December 13, 2008, 10:54:34 pm
No, wait, it's 6 THOUSAND light years. My mistake.
Truth or Sarcasm?
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: KappaWing on December 13, 2008, 10:58:31 pm
No, wait, it's 6 THOUSAND light years. My mistake.
Truth or Sarcasm?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_nebula

Truth.

He probly read ly (lightyears) instead of kly (kilo-lightyears).
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: castor on December 14, 2008, 03:50:35 am
Yea, if it was 6 we definitely would know it by heart..
Title: Re: Would there be nebula's in Capella?
Post by: Droid803 on December 14, 2008, 11:39:23 am
Well, the RADIUS of the crab nebula is 6 ly, so if we were 6 light years from it, we'd be partially inside it (or it'd cover a good portion of the sky).