# What would it be called if a galaxy exploded **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 8, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001 "2007-10-08T22:16:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/21 "2007-10-09T06:05:54Z")
I suspect that the OP means “solar system” not “galaxy”. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/22 "2007-10-09T13:57:37Z")
[QUOTE=bonitahi] What would it be called if a galaxy exploded (like star from a nova or super nova)? [/QUOTE] \ I call it a Hawking Blast. \ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/23 "2007-10-09T19:51:35Z")
> [@](#): > > Warning! Longstanding gripe forthcoming: > > I learned this back in physics class, and I don’t know how many people I’ve told it to, and not a single one has ever believed me. Maybe next time I’ll try to convince them that this really smart science guy on some Internet message board said it, too, so it must be right. > > Eh, that doesn’t sound so good. I’ll stick with “My part-time adjunct professor at my community college told me so.” I feel your pain. I’m looking for a few good cites (more authoritative than a message board, at least); if I find any, I’ll let you know. ---
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/24 "2007-10-09T21:20:19Z")
[QUOTE=Sage Rat] I suspect that the OP means “solar system” not “galaxy”. [/QUOTE] OP meant galaxy. ---
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/25 "2007-10-09T21:22:12Z")
[QUOTE=commasense] If no one else is willing to give the OP a straightforward answer, I will, in the best tradition of naming astronomical concepts like the Big Bang. It would be called a Super-Duper Nova[sup]TM[/sup]. So there. [/QUOTE] commasense, thanks for a straightforward answer. Makes sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/26 "2007-10-09T21:26:06Z")
[QUOTE=Sam Stone] \ I call it a Hawking Blast. \ [/QUOTE] Therefore it shall be known as Super-Duper NovaTM Hawking Blast. The next time. ---
**Author:** ![Punoqllads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@Punoqllads](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Punoqllads)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/27 "2007-10-09T21:55:55Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] If our Sun where compressed into a black hole, we’d all die from lack of energy, but the Earth would continue in the exact same orbit as before. [/QUOTE] In a related note, if gravitons mediate the force of gravity, but nothing can escape a black hole, how do the gravitons pass the event horizon? Tunneling? Seems like an awful lot of tunneling… ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/28 "2007-10-09T22:05:19Z")
[QUOTE=Punoqllads] In a related note, if gravitons mediate the force of gravity, but nothing can escape a black hole, how do the gravitons pass the event horizon? Tunneling? Seems like an awful lot of tunneling… [/QUOTE] Stuff does escape from black holes. [Hawking radiation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_radiation). It’s still theoretical, but so are gravitons. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/29 "2007-10-09T22:38:26Z")
Perhaps the OP means each star in a galaxy exploding simultaneously … you know, like everyone in China jumping off a chair? (On review, that would be one huge chair.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/30 "2007-10-09T22:46:45Z")
[QUOTE=bonitahi] commasense, thanks for a straightforward answer. [/QUOTE] Amusing as it was, it was actually the _least_ straightforward answer here. ---
**Author:** ![BunnyTVS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BunnyTVS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyTVS)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/31 "2007-10-09T22:58:58Z")
[QUOTE=bonitahi] Therefore it shall be known as Super-Duper NovaTM Hawking Blast. [/QUOTE] Nah, I’m sure I saw a guy do one of those in a kung fu movie one time. You twist your right arm like _this_, and kick your enemys’ head off with both feet like _this_. I have however just found out that it doesn’t work so well on cats. Anyone got a band-aid? Maybe some gauze? ---
**Author:** ![bonitahi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7993a0/32.png) [@bonitahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonitahi)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2007, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/32 "2007-10-09T23:58:16Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Amusing as it was, it was actually the _least_ straightforward answer here. [/QUOTE] It was amusing. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/33 "2007-10-10T00:36:48Z")
If it were to happen - not that I’m arguing the more learned response here - I think I’d just call it a _disaster_. Not only does it work for itself, but the etymology of “bad star” just fits too well, I think. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/34 "2007-10-10T01:33:14Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Amusing as it was, it was actually the _least_ straightforward answer here. [/QUOTE] Not so fast, Mr. Smarty Pants! The OP’s original question was **not** “_Could_ a galaxy explode?” but “What would it **be called** if a galaxy exploded?” _[Emphasis mine.]_ **Pochacco** comes along with the digression that such a thing is not possible, but **bonitahi** is undeterred and restates the essence of his/her question: “And the **name** they call that is…?” _[Emphasis mine.]_ **dwc** makes a pretty good joke, but then the whole thread goes off on a tangent about physics and astronomy and whatnot. You provide some factually correct but irrelevant rubbish about black holes, and succeed, with a few accomplices, in completely distracting **bonitahi** from the intent of the OP, which was clearly inspired more by philology than physics. After a few more jokes, I finally took pity and provided the **most** straightforward and relevant answer to the OP: what it would be **called**. And unlike the rest of you, I didn’t rely on facts or science or anything like that, since the OP clearly wasn’t asking for facts. I tapped into the vast unseen forces that control the universe, opened my consciousness, and intuited that _if_ a galaxy exploded, it would be called a Super-Duper Nova. And I dare anyone to disprove that. You couldn’t do it with both hands. For the benefit of the terminally humor-challenged, this post is firmly tongue-in-cheek. I’m not mad at or insulting anyone, certainly not **Q.E.D.** who I suspect really is Stephen Hawking, Cecil Adams, or God. Or possibly all three. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/35 "2007-10-10T01:54:42Z")
You just can’t argue with logic like that. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/36 "2007-10-10T03:00:14Z")
**bonitahi** , a galaxy is mostly empty space. The majority of what is not empty space is hydrogen atoms. Every so often you see a star. There are photons constantly flitting around, but they don’t “exist” in most of the ways you’re thinking of. How can hard vacuum possibly explode? ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/37 "2007-10-10T03:35:37Z")
[QUOTE=bonitahi] What would it be called if a galaxy exploded (like star from a nova or super nova)? [/QUOTE] Nothing, if something like that happened (and from the replies it seems unlikely, but still) nobody would be around to \*name \* it anything. So like most unexpected and highly undesirable situations it would mostly be called an “Oh Shi…” ---
**Author:** ![Ring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Ring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ring)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/38 "2007-10-10T03:49:35Z")
[QUOTE=Punoqllads] In a related note, if gravitons mediate the force of gravity, but nothing can escape a black hole, how do the gravitons pass the event horizon? Tunneling? Seems like an awful lot of tunneling… [/QUOTE] The force of gravity, should we ever come up with a theory of quantum gravity, would be mediated by _virtual_ gravitons, and they aren’t constrained by the speed of light. As far as a name for a galaxy explosion, how about a _Monster Space Kablooey_? At least that’s what I think Professor Calvin called it, although Doctor Hobbes, as I remember it, disagreed. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/39 "2007-10-10T04:18:08Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] You just can’t argue with logic like that. [/QUOTE] I accept your apology! ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001/40 "2007-10-10T04:20:06Z")
[QUOTE=Ring] The force of gravity, should we ever come up with a theory of quantum gravity, would be mediated by _virtual_ gravitons, and they aren’t constrained by the speed of light. As far as a name for a galaxy explosion, how about a _Monster Space Kablooey_? At least that’s what I think Professor Calvin called it, although Doctor Hobbes, as I remember it, disagreed. [/QUOTE] It wasn’t quite that. I think it was horrendous space kablooey. He was speaking about the big bang though, so that doesn’t count. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-it-be-called-if-a-galaxy-exploded/422001.md?page=3)