Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Phil Plait's CNU Talk

Plait is promoting his new book Death From The Skies. He gave a highly entertaining talk last night at CNU to an appreciative audience which included, I'm happy to say, many students.

My only complaint is that he focussed exclusively on asteroid and comet impacts. I was hoping for a discussion of more exotic extinction events, like Betelgeuse going super nova (any yom now!) or gamma ray bursts.

So I guess I'll have to buy the book. Before it's too late.
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1 comment:

  1. Dave Mullenix4:16 PM

    I was reading about Betelgeuse recently (can't remember where) and the topic of supernova was mentioned. Apparently Betelgeuse is close enough to earth to do some damage when it blows, but only if it's polar axis is aligned with earth. Betelgeuse is one of the few stars big enough and close enough so we can actually image it and the polar axis appears to be pointing off to one side, so we're safe.

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