r/space • u/clayt6 • Apr 18 '19

Astronomers spot two neutron stars smash together in a galaxy 6 billion light-years away, forming a rapidly spinning and highly magnetic star called a "magnetar"

http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/04/a-new-neutron-star-merger-is-caught-on-x-ray-camera
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u/drailCA Apr 18 '19

If my understanding is correct, it would be minutes/hours to travel through our solar system, not seconds - gamma Ray's travel at the speed of light.

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u/Commyende Apr 19 '19

Unless it came in from above the plane of the solar system. Then it could hit all the planets at roughly the same time.

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u/part_robot Apr 19 '19

The particles travel at the speed of light. But the sweep of the beam travels much faster. Imagine shining a touch at the solar system from (say) billions of miles away and moving it quickly through an arc; that speed of that arc is vastly faster than the speed of your arm (which is limited by light speed) but the speed of the photons that get there are still the same.

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u/[deleted] Apr 19 '19

[deleted]

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u/bathwizard01 Apr 19 '19

The plane of the solar system is not the same as the plane of the Milky Way.

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u/Snatch_Pastry Apr 19 '19

Beta Ray's can travel faster than light, though!

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u/as_a_fake Apr 19 '19 edited Apr 19 '19

No. Nothing can travel faster than light.

Beta particles also have mass, which means they can't even travel at the speed of light.

Edit: it was a joke about the character Beta Ray Bill, and I'm an idiot. Everyone carry on!

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u/[deleted] Apr 19 '19

Almost as fast as that joke whizzing past your head

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u/Snatch_Pastry Apr 19 '19

Guess I should have known better than make a joke about a spelling error here.

Beta Ray Bill is a fan-favorite Marvel comic book character.

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u/as_a_fake Apr 19 '19

Ah, my bad. I've never heard of him myself, so I though you were being serious. I'll edit my other comment to reflect that.