[Sandwich]

http://www.arutzsheva.com/news.php3?id=111108

Until now, scientists had only been able to spot supernova several days after stars in the process of exploding had begun to brighten. But the scientists who investigate this phenomenon needed to be able to observe what happens to these stars in real time. That’s precisely what NASA scientists have managed to do, for the first time, and their achievement has confirmed theoretical research carried out by Prof. Eli Waxman of the Weizmann Institute.

Aided by NASA’s advanced research satellite, Swift, the scientists succeeded in detecting the supernova just 160 seconds after the event began. Seeing the supernova so early allowed the scientists to observe, in addition to the material being thrown out in all directions, jets of gamma rays and X rays shooting out from the vicinity of the explosion. This confirmed the theory that supernovas are the source of gamma ray bursts that have been measured in the past.

[Herra Tohtori]

 

Excellent!

Now we can construct a realistic supernova effect for Capella star...

Joking aside, but this is really cool. A hyper-big burst of luck those scientist managed to have, too. Considering how rare supernovae are, it's against all probability to spot one just 160 seconds before the initial explosion.

[Mefustae]

Excellent!

Now we can construct a realistic supernova effect for Capella star...

What joking? That's actually a really damn good idea. We need some backgrounds conveying Capella's new nebula, which can now be accurate. I think it'd be an excellent effect for atmosphere in a given campaign where a mission is almost entirely composed of witnessing the light from the Capella supernova reaching a habitated system/world [complete with animated effect], with the player participating in the ceremony.

joking aside, but this is really cool. A hyper-big burst of luck those scientist managed to have, too. Considering how rare supernovae are, it's against all probability to spot one just 160 seconds before the initial explosion.

See, I don't think so. Correct me if i'm wrong, but we can see quite a few stars out there. Add to that the fact that we can detect when a star is close to the end of its life, and the chances of detecting a Supernova aren't actually all that bad. 160 seconds? Yeah, that's pretty lucky, but it's not some ultra-super-duper-rare occaision that occurs once in a lifetime.

[Herra Tohtori]

I was referring to just the fact of looking into right place at right time, not supernovae being ultra-rare in themselves.


Supernovae are common in universe, more rare in our own galaxy and spectacular ones are once in a millennia or about that. But the sky is a big place and telescopes have a *small* field of view. Considering the probability of just happening to look at one star just before it starts to disintegrate is either very very lucky, or they've got very much equipment constantly observing most promising candidates.

Probably the number of candidates was previously defined and they just kept rotating the list until they hit the jackpot... but still.

Anyway, I think the idea of supernova light reaching some system and nebula starting to be visible might work for a starting mission for some new campaign. Go ahead, make my day...

[an0n]

They weren't looking in the right place.

They built a big gamma-ray detector thingy that could detect the bursts, then when it does they turn all their telescopes to wherever the **** the burst game from.

[Colonol Dekker]

Thats the large scale equivalent of hearing a gunshot and turning to see where the victim is 

[Herra Tohtori]

... 160 seconds before the initial explosion.

Aided by NASA’s advanced research satellite, Swift, the scientists succeeded in detecting the supernova just 160 seconds after the event began.

That's my mistake.

I don't know where that "before" came from to replace the "after" but it sure did good work.

Perhaps I should get some sleep...

[Fineus]

That's all good and well but have they seen any Supermassive Black Holes?

[an0n]

I find the use of the term 'real time' amusing, when describing an event some lightyears distant.

[Flipside]

LOL I must admit I did too, 'Real Time' to us, of course being several thousand years ago to anything that inhabited that system....

Still, impressive stuff, and good to see the theories paid out

[Ford Prefect]

Excellent!

Now we can construct a realistic supernova effect for Capella star...

In order for the Capella sequence to be realistic there would have to be two other stars present. Seriously, that always bugged me.

[karajorma]

Three actually. Although 2 of them are so far away that they wouldn't be that big in the sky.

[Herra Tohtori]

Just an interesting insight.

Did you know that in ancient Hindu culture Capella was named Brahma Ridaya, The Heart of Brahma in English? And of course the Shivans destroyed it...

[karajorma]

Now that is interesting......

[Herra Tohtori]

I thought so too.

The Freespace campaigns are literally saturated with this kind of mythological hints, although they are sometimes heavily modified.

I don't know if Brahma was ever actually killed by Shiva in Hindu mythology, but the connection is still interesting. Shaivites on the other hand believe that Shiva killed Vishnu, the third part of brahman.

There's also been analysis of Roman/Greek mythology and history involved in Freespace universum and campaigns, but actually I think that a campaign loosely based on ancient Hindu mythology could be more interesting, considering that it's not as well known and so it would be possible to hide all kinds of easter eggs to be found if someone was interested enough...

[TrashMan]

I don't know if Brahma was ever actually killed by Shiva in Hindu mythology, but the connection is still interesting. Shaivites on the other hand believe that Shiva killed Vishnu, the third part of brahman.

Vishnu = ancients? Or possibly their homeworld? Or something else for FS3?

[Herra Tohtori]

Well, there's a part of Hindu mythology that tells about an Asura (demon) called Tarakasura. He basically cheated Brahma to grant him two wishes.

The first wish was that the Gods would not make any being more powerful than Tarakasura.

The second wish was <drumroll> that he could only be killed by a son of Shiva.

Naturally, Tarakasura became Demon king of all three worlds, banished Gods from their world and invaded it; he had become too powerful for even gods to stop. And only Shiva's son could kill him, because apparently what Brahma promises he keeps...


Now, ain't that interesting...

There's two (main) options if we consider this mythology more than just coincidence. The Shivans are probably analogous to "son of Shiva" as a whole, but what they are doing is a different thing. They were probably made for one task - to get rid of Tarakasura/some kind of powerful invader race out of the picture.

Option 1: They completed the task, but their masters didn't bother to get rid of the Shivans afterwards, and they evolved and revolved their own culture, reflecting their original purpose. They roam through universe, confused or non-confused, still trying to fulfill the long since fulfilled task given to them. Perhaps they are angry at Brahma for being the original reason behind all that, and thus decided "Brahma's Heart", Capella. That might just have been a coincidence, however.

Option 2: The original task is yet to be completed, so whatever it was that Shivans were made to counter still exists, and by the "run for the hills!" method used by Shivans in FS2 I'd say they are not doing too good. That would imply that there is some other species representing Tarakasura and his realm of demons, perhaps even stronger than Shivans. And perhaps they are following the Shivans...


Option 2 feels more right to me somehow, considering Volition's statements of "Shivans being just a part of a bigger problem" in universe.

Make of this what you will.  But I figure it would fit nicely into what little the have told us about plot for FS3.


Ancients don't fit very well into role of sustainers, I think. But as I said, there are loads of mythological references in FS3, but the weird thing is that the situations might not have direct counterpart in real world mythologies. These inconsistencies might or might not be intentional, but it sure makesinterpretation hella lot more difficult...

[Mobius]

Hey,everyone here says "FS3".

I heard this new about the Supernova between the Scorpion(wow) and the Shield,but there are no screenshots.If this discovery could be used for FS2,well I'm for it!

Herra:Very interesting theory,possibly you have unveiled V's secrets plans for FS3.

[Ace]

Something that Herra, and many others should keep in mind is that the Shivan force seen in FS2 was still just the tip of the iceberg. Statements such as "they were fleeing" etc. are not justified.

However one can see that there is a relationship between mass and subspace nodes, and that FS1 hints at how the Shivans can rebuild/manipulate nodes.

The Shivans also appear to simply track where subspace activity occurs, and destroy it. Planets would obviously be using subspace communications, and so would be targets as well.

It's not too hard to see how destroying Capella ties in with "silencing subspace activity" and perhaps even manipulating the subspace network.

Now the question is why are they the "great preservers" of subspace?

[an0n]

Could be there's something on the other side of subspace that they don't want coming through....