MYSTERIOUS COSMIC DETONATIONS: The Cow

Mysterious Cosmic Detonations is the title of an article in the latest issue of Scientific American and the first one was named "the Cow."

In 2018 a massive cosmic explosion made its way to us as a bright flash of blue, from a later-designated AT2018cow portion of the sky. Thus, "the Cow."
More scientifically, this outburst is now called a Fast Blue Optical Transient (FBOT).
Initially there was some belief it was a supernova.
Since then a few more have been found.
But exactly what has confounded astrophysicists.

How does a Cow compare with a gamma-ray burst (GRB) or a supernova?

GRBs were discovered serendipitously in 1967 by Air Force satellite Velas on the lookout for Soviet nuclear testing violations.

The satellites also carry a gamma-ray detector because nuclear explosions produce gamma rays. But this glaring light came from outer space beyond our universe.
This was the mystery of those days until scientists determined they came from the collapse of matter forming a black hole during the death of massive stars in supernovas.
The ultra long-lasting ones of more than 30 seconds are the product of hypernovas, 100 times the brightness of supernovas, when stars 5-10 times the mass of our sun implode into black holes.

Gamma-ray bursts are the product of what was then thought to be the strongest and brightest explosions in the universe.
A typical burst can produce as much energy as our sun will emit during its entire 10-billion-year existence.
An odd characteristic is that it is not like a Big Bang, for the energy is focused into a narrow beam.
For this reason, even though one a day is spotted, it is surmised that something like 500 are occurring daily.
These can cause an extinction event for Planet Earth, with one possibility the stripping away of our protective ozone layer exposing life to deadly ultraviolet light.
No burst has so far come from our Milky Way Galaxy. However, the Ordovician extinction, which happened 450 million years ago, might have caused our ice age and originated in our neighborhood.

So how does the Cow compare with a supernova or GRB?

A Cow is more powerful and brighter than a supernova.
More powerful than a hypernova? Yes, because FBOTs can be 100 times brighter than a supernova. Remember, the Cow and an FBOT are the same type of explosion.

What is an FBOT?

Some theories, but no consensus answer.
Maybe an Earth-size white dwarf star being ripped apart by the gravitational influence of a black hole between 100,000 to one million times the mass of our sun.
Or, like the creation of a black hole or discharge of a gamma-ray burst, this could have something to do with the collapse of massive stars.
A Northwestern University team has a cocoon theory.
But there is a difference between a GRB and a Cow because the latter contains traces of hydrogen.

Enough of space science. I'll end today with some music:

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These a...

WHY YOU SHOULD CONVERT TO A JAPANESE HIGH TECH TOILET

Did you know that Oktoberfest in Germany is mostly in September? The very first day of Oktoberfest 2021 was supposed to be today, September 18, extending into October 3. Well, as in 2020, Oktoberfest was cancelled. So why is it called by that month when it is held mostly in September? The first celebration in 1810 was in October. Did you also know that Oktoberfest is held only in Munich? These days seven million drink more than a liter ( about three typical cans ) of beer each, costing around $11. Except for my wife and I when we followed the crowd to board the S-Bahn to the fairgrounds near Old Town. It was drizzling a bit. We bought a large pretzel outside of a typical barn where beer is served. We did not know that you needed to get this inside the hall. So no one came to serve us beer. After a while we decided to have lunch, and the restaurant we settled on only served wine. Thus, we might have been the ...

THE FIRST 84 YEARS OF MY LIFE

The first half of my life was spent preparing myself for my final 42 years. This was a mostly trying and stressful period involving a less than ideal youth, then struggles to get through school, my first few jobs and accompanying life, ending two months later on a Sunday with Part 15E , so it was a spiritual conclusion to my final transition. I never did count the number of actual postings, but I suspect it was around 25 parts. The ending had to do with golf, the disappearance and re-appearance of an 8-iron cover. That was the final clue to whether the beyond after death would be eternal gloom or Heaven. Today, I provide only one transition, but hint about a final one, for this, after all, is Sunday. I'm 84 years old, so let me summarize what happened during the first phase, from 0-42, and follow with the years 42-84. As this is 2024, that key transition year was 1982. I can't seem to find this photo, but as a one-year old baby, I was fat....

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