Betelgeuse could beon the verge of going nova

That would be because in a medium, light moves slower than in empty space - sometimes far slower than ~300000km/s which is the top speed of our universe.
Check out Cherenkov radiation.

 

^ If we're talking about optical density, that varies depending on wavelength.

Through the nebulous interstellar space, the difference between c and the speed of electromagnetic rays is going to be tiny. But over a distance of 600 light years, it might add up to something measurable. Would these small differences in speeds be enough to create lag between different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation reaching earth?

 

Almost certainly, since even at terrestrial distances, you can do range-finding on multichannel signals by analyzing the relative phase offset of different frequencies.

 

Where is that used? There's a big difference between it happening in earth's atmosphere, or in the near vacuum of space.

I think astronomers use the expression 'column density' or something. ie, the amount of gas being looked through when observing an object.

 

I agree with your wife. Don't be surprised when people stop answering your questions.

 

Various navigation/geolocation applications. I'm not sure if GPS actually uses a multichannel signal or not, but it's the same basic idea.

 

How illogical. Duplication of effort is inefficient. If some other readily available person has the required information at hand, "looking it up" is simply a waste of effort.

Besides, counting you, that makes exactly two people in the entire universe that have ever expressed a problem with it. I highly doubt anyone is going to stop answering my questions any time soon.

 

Maybe your universe is chocked full of fools who do not mind feeding your laziness.

Relaying on other people to provide informations without making any effort to familiarize yourself with the topic at hand is a bad habit and very poor form, on a discussion forum just as in real life. If you are going to ask people to do research for you because you are too lazy to do it yourself, you should be ready to pay them for the effort.

 

There's no effort if they already know the answers. I'm not asking people to go and do research for me. I just ask questions, and if somebody knows the answers, they have no problem telling me. It has nothing to do with laziness.

 

So you'd rather believe random message board jerks, instead of at least reading a Wikipedia article about it?

 

Of course there is effort, the effort to explain it. And explain it again. And again. And again.

I suppose it's no surprise people like me may be a bit fed up with having to explain things over and over because people prefer not to educate themselves and being spoon-fed informations on demand.

 

So, how do you feel about just being provided a link?

Here's the deal: my time is valuable (wasting it in TNZ notwithstanding), and if someone at work asks me a question to which I've already documented the answer, I provide a link to my documentation rather than typing it all out again.

Someone pointing you to a Wikipedia page is the same thing as far as I'm concerned. You're right, somebody else already did the work. Being pointed to the information you want is pretty much the maximum amount of courtesy you should expect. Don't expect someone to rehash it for you and explain it repeatedly. No one likes to have their time wasted.

 

Wow, you guys are all really jumping down my throat about nothing. If you point me to an answer, that's fine. I'll read it.

The thing is, for most of the stuff we talk about here, I just don't care that much. So if somebody can explain something for me quickly, I prefer that. If I care enough about the topic, sure, I'll do some research myself.

If you decide not to answer my questions, I really couldn't care less. I don't care enough about these topics, so if you don't want to explain things to me, I'm not going to be bothered by it.

I personally enjoy explaining things to people, educating them on topics they are unfamiliar with. I guess I assumed that was normal. I apparently assumed wrong.

 

I don't mind explaining things to someone once or twice. Having to explain the same thing to people over and over gets wicked tiresome. It's a much more efficient use of time to "write once, read everyone."

 

I always try to read every post in a thread before asking questions because I don't want people to have to explain things multiple times. If I accidentally missed an answer to one of my questions, I'm sorry. Sometimes I might read an answer and want a little clarification. If I'm in a thread full of knowledgeable people, and I am less knowledgeable, I ask questions assuming someone will know the answers. What the hell is the point of this place if people can't answer your questions? I learn better that way.

 

I'm just saying some people may answer your questions by giving you links rather than rehashing what someone else already stated perfectly.

This is the Internet, Google is always at your fingertips. If you have a general science question you will get much better information if you just pop your question into a search engine and start trolling through the results. Asking questions here is most useful when it's something really specific that you might not be able to find an easy answer to with a few minutes of Googling. I would always recommend the Googling first, then you come here and ask if you simply can't find a satisfactory answer or you truly just don't understanding what you've found.

Most of the people around here are willing to be helpful and explain things but we aren't here to give you an elementary science education. You have to do some of the heavy lifting yourself, you know?

Sorry if I came off too strong, initially. It's good that you want to learn, it's just not going to be spoon-fed to you. Probably a good idea to approach life with the same attitude!

 

I never expected to be spoon-fed. I just also have other things to worry about, so if I can post a question (and I like to think that my questions are more complex than elementary science), leave, and then come back to an answer, all the better. If I have time to do my own research, I certainly do it.

 

I feel that if someone asks a question here, the intention is for it to be answered here, because presumably the question asker has already decided they don't want to look at wikipedia, so a link to it would be unwanted as well.

And to me, a question isn't just a question. Sometimes we ask it because want it answered by people we're vaguely familiar with, so that we can enjoy interaction with them. Question answering naturally leads to new ideas and nice discussions, which is something an encyclopedia entry cannot do.

Without question asking and answering, sci-tech risks becoming little more than a place for regurgitating news, with not a lot of interaction taking place.

 

Yes, this. Thank you.