Planet-dissolving Dust Cloud is Headed Toward Earth

"CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Scared-stiff astronomers have detected a mysterious mass they've dubbed a "chaos cloud" that dissolves everything in its path, including comets, asteroids, planets and entire stars -- and it's headed directly toward Earth!

Discovered April 6 by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the swirling, 10 million-mile- wide cosmic dust cloud has been likened to an "acid nebula" and is hurtling toward us at close to the speed of light -- making its estimated time of arrival 9:15 a.m. EDT on June 1, 2014.

"The good news is that this finding confirms several cutting- edge ideas in theoretical physics," announced Dr. Albert Sherwinski, a Cambridge based astrophysicist with close ties to NASA."

movies.yahoo.com...

Don't Panic!!! I am studying Aerospace Engineering, if there is a solution to this problem i'll find it. They mentioned building a space ark and taking only the best and brightest with them. I'll build a better one and i'll take all the hotties with me.

Seriously though, how the hell could we stop something like that if it turns out to be 100% true? They saw it totally destroy a huge asteroid, sounds friendly. We only have a few years, i think we should all start thinking about ways to survive. Where is Tesla when you need him?

MOD EDIT: No all-caps in title, please.

[edit on 9/17/2005 by cmdrkeenkid]

no all caps...

and look, i am not scared of this cloud...

by the time it arrives, i will be on the moon or mars

It's a Weekly World News story. Enough said.

A cloud of cosmic of dust traveling close to the speed of light? Is that even possible? Any physicists in here?

Its a hoax ...

Speaking under the condition of anonymity, a senior White House official said the president's top science advisors are taking the findings in stride.

"This is a lot like global warming, where the jury is still out on whether it's real or not," said the official.

"The existence of this so called chaos cloud is only a theory. Americans shouldn't panic until all the facts are in."

Pretty stupid really....

Dont worry...I promise you wont feel a thing

Did the original poster even read the news story? or just do a quick skim and say omg, I gotta post this hotness?


Weekly World News, c'mon man. I ain't been this disappointed since Bat Boys great adventure.

I am confident that this is pure fiction being put forward by an unreliable source. Allow me to explain how I came to this conclusion.

The first thing that springs to mind when I clicked on the link provided is that it appears in the 'Entertainment News & Gossip' section. Not exactly coin of the realm when it comes to reliable, scientifically verifiable information.

The second thing is that no details are provided for this enigmatic Dr Albert Sherwinski. In the article, he is merely referred to as

a Cambridge based astrophysicist with close ties to NASA

A cursory Google search turns up no trace of the good doctor, other than in this particular story. A search of the staff at both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology both result in no listings for a Dr Albert Sherwinski.

The article then details how

But Dr. Sherwinski's contacts at the agency's Chandra X-ray Observatory leaked to him striking images of the newly discovered chaos cloud obliterating a large asteroid.

Note once again that no details are given for these supposed contacts. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center is certainly real enough, but without contact details for Dr Sherwinski's contacts there, this part of the story is unverifiable.

However, the aspect of this story that really sinks it in terms of credibility is the part where it states

contacts at the agency's Chandra X-ray Observatory leaked to him striking images of the newly discovered chaos cloud obliterating a large asteroid

There are two very obvious scientific errors in this statement. The first is that, although the X-Ray telescope utilised by the Chandra Observatory is powerful, it is ludicrous to believe that it could see an individual asteroid, however large, many tens of thousands of light years away. To illustrate, observe this photo taken by the Chandra Observatory of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, a mere 10 000 light years away from Earth:



Beautiful and impressive, but hardly able to focus on objects as small as individual asteroids.

The second error is the fact that the Chandra telescope is not a visible light telescope. So, unless the asteroid (which is, by definition, an inert piece of rock) suddenly and inexplicably released enormous amounts of X-Rays upon by eaten by the 'chaos cloud', there is no way that the telescope could have seen it, even accepting the ridiculous suggestion that it could penetrate the great distances involved to resolve anything as small as an asteroid. This page gives an excellent rundown on how the Chandra X-Ray telescope records X-Ray images and uses false light to make important features more visible and striking.

Furthermore, given the uncertain variables involved, there is absolutely no way to determine an accurate arrival date for the 'chaos cloud', let alone a specific time. The article, for example, states that the cloud is moving

close to the speed of light

However, the speed of light is approximately 186,282.4 miles per second (Reference). Thus any error in calculation or estimation is likely to alter the arrival time by hugely significant amounts. When you combine this with the fact that the actual distance to the centre of the Milky Way is still not precisely known - it ranges from 25 000 to 28 000 light years (Reference) - there is simply no way that an arrival date as accurate as that given in the article would be able to be accurately calculated.

It is also pertinent to note that the Chandra Observatory has already observed massive eruptions sourced by black holes and has readily made the information public. From the Chandra website:

In its sixth year, Chandra also continued to build on its growing list of discoveries involving black holes. This included finding the most powerful eruption seen in the universe, generated by a supermassive black hole growing at a remarkable rate. The eruption -- which has lasted for 100 million years and is still going -- has generated the energy equivalent to hundreds of millions of gamma-ray bursts. This discovery illustrated the enormous appetite of large black holes, and the profound impact they have on their surroundings.

Given all of these pertinent facts, it can be reasonably stated that this article is a complete fabrication.

Jeremiah, don't waste your time. It's weekly world news.. Entertainment.

So this thread is headed for Chit Chat.

A cloud of cosmic of dust traveling close to the speed of light? Is that even possible? Any physicists in here?

While I do not claim to be a physicist, I can tell you, it is not impossible, however it is highly improbable.

Come on people, it's tabloid spoof news even more silly than The Onion.

Here's some fine WeeklyWierdoSpews examples:


NASA BUILDS WORLD'S BIGGEST PAPER AIRPLANE
IN A DESPERATE bid to capture the imagination of American taxpayers who keep the space agency in business, NASA has designed and built the world's biggest paper airplane, according to a watchdog group spokesman!

'OSAMA PROOF' YOUR COMPUTER
Here, from experts at Symantec and other computer-security pros, are some safety tips that can shield your system from computer invaders.

COMPANY TURNS DEAD BODIES INTO DIAMONDS!
CHICAGO -- Widows like Anna Nicole Smith can prove their love truly was "solid as a rock" when their rich geezer hubbies croak -- by having the old buzzard's corpse turned into a beautiful diamond ring!

LIGHTNING RODS YOU CAN WEAR
DENVER -- A maverick inventor has come up with an elaborate device designed to protect you from deadly lightning strikes, and he swears that it's safe because he's tested it repeatedly -- on himself!

www.weeklyworldnews.com...

Of course it's fake, not even the North Korea news is faker than Weekly World News.

Don't forget Bat Boy and the 250 pound baby!!

I used to love reading Weekly world news more than 10 years ago. But after sometime, the jokes became uninventive and bland.

The basic idea is that recent ejecta from supermassive blackholes at the center of the galaxy are acidic and are heading for earth "and will kill us all" (tm)

A number of problems.

Black holes eject nothing. Ah, but the story notes:

He demonstrated that information about objects that have been sucked in can be emitted in mangled form.

Hawking radiation is not a cloud of acids.

Anything ejected from the centre of the galaxy now isn't going to reach earth anytime soon, or ever, given that they're saying its acids, not even radiation (which has a better chance, since its moving at the speed of light, by definition). Also, others have noted that the Chandra x-ray observatory can only detect things that are here now, not stuff that is so far away that its light hasn't reached here yet.
The galaxy is big, a dense ejection of acid in its center will spread out to the rest of the galaxy, thinning out as it does so, and thus being entirely ineffectual.

That's what the chaos cloud does to every star or planet it encounters."

This simply must be some sort of movie.
Also, this Dr. Albert Sherwinski doesn't appear to actually exist.

And then there's this:
www.snopes.com...

However it shouldn't require snopes or anything else to indicate that this story is simply completely false.

Also, for those who are intersted in this sort of thing, a google for the doctor give this. We are, at the time of writting this, the third most linked to website about this guy. Go ATS.

I was wrong, the acid-chaos cloud is real:
www.badastronomy.com...


AHHHHH!

This is nothing, a mere "rookie" chaos cloud at best. Want a real danger cloud? Try changing my 21 month olds diaper after a Mooshu dinner, now thats scary...

June 1 2014 is just a few months away. Is that the cause for all this freaky weather?

OMG, June 1st 2014 is just 7 days away from today. Eventhough this may be a hoax, but the GC cloud is real >>> www.space.com...

Maybe something ejected from the Galactic Center's supermassive black hole would really reach Earth around that day at the speed of light? Who knows? Hoaxes could be smokescreen for a different event, albeit much more milder and less catastrophic that dissolving planets.

a reply to: Menedes567

Don't worry.
If this was real,we would have heard about it by now.

And for those saying, that NASA et all may be hiding this from us.... not possible.
There are simply too many amateurs with telescopes out there, and also don't forget Europe.
Many European countries are getting more and more invested/ interested in space.

My personal opinion is that this was probably a hoax.

a reply to: Menedes567

That gas cloud is being sucked INTO the blackhole at the center of the galaxy ... not ejected!

Stars for bumpin this thread though ... that was very cool!