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Is it just me or does that pic at the link totally mess with you when you look away and back at it?
Posts: 303 | Registered: Oct 2007
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Okay, I leaned back in my chair while I was reading the article, and for a moment I thought I was losing my mind (or my eyesight). That is kind of trippy.
Posts: 57 | Registered: Jun 2008
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/quote: Red giant stars are thought to have short, complicated and violent lifespans. /quote
Hate to nitpick, but red giant stars are the second stage of stars such as our own sun. When their Hydrogen mostly burns out they expand to many times their original size and begin burning Helium. When the Helium burns out they collapse into a brown dwarf and disappear except for a slight radiation signature. They burn for billions of years.
Edit: I was wondering why Fox would make such an obvious mistake. The answer is Betelgeuse is classified as a red supergiant and not a red giant. Supergiants are among the largest stars, and thus have extremely short lifespans. Betelgeuse has an estimated lifespan of 8.5 million years.
*The more you know*
[This message has been edited by Natej11 (edited June 22, 2009).]
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Although I seem to remember Zaphod blew up his own planet. So perhaps he's still at work now.
