[ all told, dean isn't a terrible stargazing partner. he enjoys the sky well enough, and castiel does his best to stick to subjects that he think will interest dean without delving too far into the boring science jargon - he sticks with fun, cool stuff like, you know, giant exploding stars that could spell the imminent demise of all life on earth. it's the best he can do to keep to a topic he thinks most people might find interesting.
still, he can't help but scowl a little when dean snags his beer, because the cooler is right there dean winchester. ]
Err.. no, not exactly. There are many theories surrounding the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, and in truth we still don't know what happened, but assuming that the asteroid theory is correct, it certainly didn't turn them to dust. An asteroid that massive, striking the Earth, would have kicked up enough debris into the atmosphere to blot out for sun for years, potentially, which would have wiped out most plant life. The food chain collapsed, and not only the dinosaurs, but nearly all life on Earth would have deteriorated and died out. Less a Hollywood explosion, more a sad, slow, painful death.
[ .. he really can go on, when he wants to. for a man who seems so quiet most of the time, castiel really has it in him to blather, and blather, and blather, when he's really interested in something, and he rarely has the wherewithal to stop himself. bless dean for his patience, because he's often the victim of castiel's scientific spewing if sam's not around, or if dean asks a question that gets the ball rolling. he bites his lip thoughtfully, already forgetting the beer, lifting his eyes briefly to the stars, the bright strip of milky way above them, before lowering them to dean's face again, flushed and excited. ]
But if Eta Carinae goes hypernova, it won't be like that. It's a star, not an asteroid. It won't hit earth, it will explode in space, and it'll be so bright that it will light up the night sky, even 7500 light years away. In all likelihood we wouldn't be affected, our atmosphere would filter most of the radiation and gamma rays, but it's possible that it could instead burn away our ozone layer, leaving us susceptible to terrible UV radiation, which would also be slow, and painful.
[ castiel's hands spread wide, his eyebrows lifting and his eyes shining, a slow smile creeping over his face; he's a kid at a science fair, never happier than when he's explaining things like this, especially to dean, someone new, someone fresh. lowering his head, he drops his voice, almost conspiratorially, his eyes fixed on dean's. ]
But the real, wild possibility is the threat of a gamma-ray burst. We'd really be in trouble.
no subject
still, he can't help but scowl a little when dean snags his beer, because the cooler is right there dean winchester. ]
Err.. no, not exactly. There are many theories surrounding the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, and in truth we still don't know what happened, but assuming that the asteroid theory is correct, it certainly didn't turn them to dust. An asteroid that massive, striking the Earth, would have kicked up enough debris into the atmosphere to blot out for sun for years, potentially, which would have wiped out most plant life. The food chain collapsed, and not only the dinosaurs, but nearly all life on Earth would have deteriorated and died out. Less a Hollywood explosion, more a sad, slow, painful death.
[ .. he really can go on, when he wants to. for a man who seems so quiet most of the time, castiel really has it in him to blather, and blather, and blather, when he's really interested in something, and he rarely has the wherewithal to stop himself. bless dean for his patience, because he's often the victim of castiel's scientific spewing if sam's not around, or if dean asks a question that gets the ball rolling. he bites his lip thoughtfully, already forgetting the beer, lifting his eyes briefly to the stars, the bright strip of milky way above them, before lowering them to dean's face again, flushed and excited. ]
But if Eta Carinae goes hypernova, it won't be like that. It's a star, not an asteroid. It won't hit earth, it will explode in space, and it'll be so bright that it will light up the night sky, even 7500 light years away. In all likelihood we wouldn't be affected, our atmosphere would filter most of the radiation and gamma rays, but it's possible that it could instead burn away our ozone layer, leaving us susceptible to terrible UV radiation, which would also be slow, and painful.
[ castiel's hands spread wide, his eyebrows lifting and his eyes shining, a slow smile creeping over his face; he's a kid at a science fair, never happier than when he's explaining things like this, especially to dean, someone new, someone fresh. lowering his head, he drops his voice, almost conspiratorially, his eyes fixed on dean's. ]
But the real, wild possibility is the threat of a gamma-ray burst. We'd really be in trouble.