alt.hn

6/8/2026 at 9:00:13 PM

A giant star may have destroyed itself in one of the rarest explosions

 https://phys.org/news/2026-05-giant-star-destroyed-universe-rarest.html

by wglb

6/9/2026 at 4:38:18 PM

There is a wiki on pair-instability supernovas. Antimatter (in the form of positrons) is a key factor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pair-instability_supernova

by chasil

6/9/2026 at 10:03:48 PM

My favourite kind of supernova, due to their absurdity.

by ben_w

6/10/2026 at 1:55:24 AM

Space, why so much violence ?

by smnplk

6/10/2026 at 4:51:11 AM

may have. Or not.

by hulitu

6/9/2026 at 4:49:19 PM

I just want to live long enough for space telescopes to evolve exponentially to observe kilonovas in the visual spectrum

I mean laser interferometers are an amazing advancement but just imagine seeing an earth-sized chunk of gold pop out of a kilonova (probably not my lifetime but eventually a human will see it happen)

Thank goodness this administration did not frack with Nancy Grace Roman Telescope, I thought the name alone would make them cancel it or rename it after him, wait maybe I shouldn't even mention that idea...

* https://science.nasa.gov/mission/roman-space-telescope/

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Grace_Roman_Space_Telesc...

by ck2

6/9/2026 at 10:29:59 PM

Check out the aragoscope [1]. It's not planned, but we would already have the technology as it doesn't rely on fragile and heavy lenses to be sent in orbit.

If you look at image 17 you can see that a simulated aragoscope that is in our technical reach could already resolve the Jupiter moons from almost 23 light years away. I hope as well that we will have something comparable while I am still around.

[1] https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2014_phase_i...

by throwaway-away

6/9/2026 at 10:23:01 PM

Well I mean I would expect that the gold would be fired off in all directions as more of an atomic mist than a chunk

by vitally3643

6/10/2026 at 12:49:39 AM

He has stopped Mtf trans females from competing in female sports thus pretty much segregating 10s of millions of Americans and people of color.

I don't think it's possible to do worse, even for him.

by sourcegrift

6/9/2026 at 4:43:45 PM

[flagged]

by bebeidjdkrjrjr

6/9/2026 at 4:59:47 PM

I know you are a bad-faith bot account, so this is not posed to you.

I am wondering why there are so many of these accounts popping up. They seemingly only exist to antagonize. What do their operators get out of that?

by wewtyflakes

6/9/2026 at 5:05:02 PM

What do 14 year olds get out of trolling anything? A cheap grin and something to do on an after school evening.

by junon

6/9/2026 at 5:32:27 PM

heh, funny you say that - I just yesterday almost bit at some obvious Nego-Trolling on here and remembered "Just don't engage".

Some people, for some reason at certain points in their life, just want to shit on other people's stuff, any way that they can, for... reasons.

I mean, clearly it's not to make themselves feel better, because how on Earth could that work?

There's no value in engaging, in any way whatsover. Sadly there's very little that can be done to prevent that form of human behaviour, without otherwise souring the experience for the generality.

*shrug, whatchagonnado?

by detritus

6/9/2026 at 5:57:18 PM

> I mean, clearly it's not to make themselves feel better, because how on Earth could that work?

When you're really, really angry you look for an outlet. Some people kick the dog, some abuse their gf/wife/kids, others troll on online forums.

by nutjob2

6/9/2026 at 5:59:39 PM

Yeah, I get that. But does it actually make them feel better?

What do they say about sugaring trauma?

by detritus

6/9/2026 at 6:13:35 PM

It can make them feel better by giving them a chance to look down on someone else. (The "looking down" doesn't have to be the content of the post - the act of trolling is a form of looking down on someone.)

by AnimalMuppet

6/9/2026 at 6:31:36 PM

> It can make them feel better by giving them a chance to look down on someone else.

That's the idea but it does not work. Self esteem is still negative afterwards

by scns

6/9/2026 at 9:49:33 PM

Whether or not it works isn't what matters. It's whether or not the perpetrator, consciously or not, believes it works.

by MadnessASAP

6/9/2026 at 5:54:39 PM

Welcome to the general public. You'll meet all the people you go to great lengths to avoid in the real wold, online.

by nutjob2

6/9/2026 at 5:56:04 PM

Dark Forest theory, anyone?

by timwis

6/10/2026 at 8:32:18 AM

I like to think there's a solid argument against dark forest that even if you can destroy other intelligent systems, then hidden intelligent cautious systems may exist and see evidence of what you've done, so there's a potential consequence to destroying every intelligent system you identify.

And then also (maybe this is absurd) isn't there something intrinsic in intelligence to want to avoid conflict and desire peace?

by veltas

6/9/2026 at 6:03:20 PM

It was a supergiant, hence died at a young age, and unlikely to have evolved life of any kind in its system.

by groos

6/9/2026 at 7:11:47 PM

That’s what Singer’s civilization wants you to think before they send a Photoid or Dual-Vector foil (but later would require a supervisor’s approval which is a PITA)

by tgrowazay

6/9/2026 at 9:57:57 PM 

  > before they send a Photoid
Plenty of services require a Photo ID nowadays.

by dotancohen

6/9/2026 at 8:58:29 PM

Pair-instability can only happen in low-metalicity surroundings.

The big bang created hydrogen, helium, and small amounts of lithium. Any higher elements are created by stars, and a significant presence of those "metals" will take a star down a different path than pair-instability.

Low-metalicity environments are not likely to be friendly to life.

by chasil