Astronomers during the last American Astronomical Society conference said that a massive white dwarf star within the cycle of a multiple nova is substantially nearer to our own solar system in contrast to at one time thought. Whenever it actually does collapse into a type Ia supernova -- the resulting thermonuclear explosion will adversely affect life on the planet. Significantly.

The star is actually part of a binary starsystem a white dwarf that leaches mass off its sun-like neighbor called T Pyxidis, situated in the southern area of the constellation Pyxis, referred to as "The Compass Box." The system can be described as an recurrent nova since it has been subjected to frequent novas during the last century, suffering somewhat small thermonuclear explosions around 1890, 1902, 1920, 1944 and 1967, or just about every twenty years. 
It is currently been over Four decades since that last nova in 1967, and in the mean time the white dwarf continues to swell, nourishing off its neighbor. If it carries on to swell, it might eventually reach the Chandrasekhar Limitation, a critical mass at which point immediate gravitational collapse will occur causing a thermonuclear blast comparable to 20 billion billion billion megatons of TNT.

Considering that scientist have recently found out that T Pyxidis is only 3,260 light-years away from us, a neighbor by cosmic standards and a lot closer than up until recently thought, that kind of epic explosion wouldn't be good for our stellar neighborhood. The Gamma radiation which would reach Our planet would be equal to 1,000 simultaneous solar flares bombarding planet earth. The resulting creation of nitrous oxides in the upper atmosphere would undoubtedly completely destroy the ozone, at which point it is safe to say the planet would be compleetly uninhabitable.

But the magnificent scale of the cosmos that allows these kinds of massive, cataclysmic events to unravel also bears a gold lining for anybody on Earth. Although in terms of star life a supernova is probably around the cosmic corner, it is believed to take place millions of earth years from today, a full 10 million years by some estimates. The reality is that we're to far away from T Pyxidis to really tell exactly how big it is or how quickly it is accreting mass. But the end of the world will not be coming tomorrow. Or even in a couple of years.

Excellent video interview about T Puxidis on bottom of page.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T_Pyxidis

Press Release
September 27, 2011
The Disclosure Petition

Washington, DC - Paradigm Research Group's Disclosure Petition on the White House website has achieved the necessary 5000 signatures for consideration by and response from the Obama administration. Signatures from around the world have been registered. The wording of this petition is as follows:

"We, the undersigned, strongly urge the President of the United States to formally acknowledge an extraterrestrial presence engaging the human race and immediately release into the public domain all files from all agencies and military services relevant to this phenomenon."

The Disclosure Petition is located at:   http://wh.gov/gKC

Since 1992 hundreds of military and government agency witnesses have come forward with testimony confirming this extraterrestrial presence. Opinion polls now indicate more than 50% of the American people believe there is an extraterrestrial presence and more than 80% believe the government is not telling the truth about this phenomenon.

According to PRG executive director Stephen Bassett, "There is an international effort underway to generate as many signatures as possible behind the petition. This is a golden opportunity for the citizens of nations to affirm they DO have a right to know and CAN handle the truth."

Another referendum on this issue with over 4000 endorsements is ongoing at: www.worlddisclosureday.org

Relevant Websites:

  http://wh.gov/gKC
www.disclosurepetition.info
www.worlddisclosureday.org
www.paradigmresearchgroup.org

Contact: Stephen Bassett
202-215-8344
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What are our chances of communicating with intelligent aliens? Are there other habitable worlds in our galaxy? Is there life elsewhere in our galaxy? Is there intelligent life? Are there other technological civilizations in our galaxy with whom we can communicate? How can we estimate how many there are of each of these?

In 1961, Dr. Frank Drake developed the Drake Equation to estimate the number of other technological civilizations that exist in our galaxy with whom we can communicate. Use the adapted version below to calculate the number of worlds within our Milky Way Galaxy that have intelligent life whose radio emissions should be detectable.

Use the buttons and sliders and Enter your estimates for each term below. You can learn more about each term and receive some help deciding upon estimated values. The values will be instandly updated.

 

Drake Equation app Credits:

Scientists evaluating recent data from NASA's Voyager and Cassini spacecraft have determined that Voyager 1 could cross over into the frontier of interstellar space anytime and a lot earlier than previously thought. The conclusions are detailed in a June Issue of the journal Nature.

Details from Voyager's low-energy charged particle instruments, first reported in December 2010, now have revealed that the outward velocity of the charged particles flowing from the sun has slowed to zero. The stagnation of this solar wind has persisted through at least February 2011, marking a thick, previously unforeseen "transition zone" at the edge of our solar system.

"There is one time we are going to cross that frontier, and this is the first sign it is upon us," said Tom Krimigis, prinicipal researcher for Voyager's low-energy charged particle instrument and Cassini's magnetospheric imaging instrument, based at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

Krimigis and colleagues combined the newest Voyager data with previously unpublished measurements from the ion and neutral camera on Cassini's magnetospheric imaging instrument. The Cassini instrument gathers data on neutral atoms surging into our solar system from the outside.

The research indicates that the boundary between interstellar space and the bubble of charged particles the sun blows around itself is likely between 10 and 14 billion miles (16 to 23 billion kilometers) from the sun, with a best estimate of approximately 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers). Considering that Voyager 1 is already nearly 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) out, it could cross into interstellar space at any moment.

"These calculations show we're getting close, but how close? That's what we don't know, but Voyager 1 speeds outward a billion miles just about every three years, so we may not have long to wait," said Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist, based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Scientists plan to keep studying the Voyager 1 data, searching for confirmation. They will also be studying the Voyager 2 data, but Voyager 2 isn't as close to the edge of the solar system as Voyager 1. Voyager 2 is about 9 billion miles (14 billion kilometers) away from the sun.

Launched in 1977, the Voyager twin spacecraft have been on a 33-year quest. They are humanity's farthest working deep space sentinels enroute to reach the edge of interstellar space. The Voyagers were originally built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., which will continue to operate both spacecraft. The Voyager missions are a part of the NASA Heliophysics System Observatory, subsidized by the Heliophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. JPL is managed for NASA by Caltech.

More information about Voyager is available at:  http://www.nasa.gov/voyager and  http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov.