I assume it is related to attacks on the Jita gate network. I checked a few systems around Jita and it was visible from all of them. If you watch it ingame you can see it expanding, and new waves forming.
The photo was taken in Aokannitoh 1.24 light years from Jita… which from very rough (and probably inaccurate) calculations would mean that stuff must be moving at over 10 thousand times the speed of light… it should have already reached all of the systems neighboring Jita very soon after the initial incident.
I am curious if anyone has tried to accurately calculate the size and velocity of the radiation?
And a related question - is it necessary to wear lead underpants when traveling near Jita to protect against that radiation?
I doubt it could be higher radiation than the extreme blue shifted ( effectively far X-ray ) light that ordinary starlight would turn into at the speed of light.
Thank you for a very interesting answer. I had not considered the wavelength yet.
Yes I agree it would include x-rays very likely. If I had to guess I would say it might also cover the rest of the spectrum, including high energy gamma radiation.
What makes me confused though is the velocity. All measurable radiation and particles top out at the speed of light. Most of it is slower. But if I try and calculate the velocity of that stuff around Jita, based on visual observation ingame, is way way way faster than the speed of light by an order of many thousands of times. Perhaps theoretical particles like Tachyons?
I think you’ve miscalculated that. If you are 1.24 light years from Jita and the expanding cloud from Jita is maybe 10-15 degrees in visual size from there, then the cloud is about 0.36 light years across. That would be 0.18 light years in radius. The ‘incident’ was 6 months ago…so the cloud has expanded 0.18 light years in 6 months. So its expanding at about 0.36 light years in a year, or 36% of the speed of light.
Thank you for taking the time to explain the steps you took in the calculations. Well worded and thought out. It makes a lot of sense and was easy to follow.
If the radiation cloud (not sure what to call it) appeared basically ‘static’ due to the distance of the observer I would agree.
The problem is that the waves move so fast that a person can actually see the movement happening within seconds… even from 1.24 LY away.
I tried to calculate the speed based on the movement of each wave as it appears and expands in the animation. To me it seems that the waves expand between 0.01 to 0.02 light years every 25 seconds… which puts it into crazy 12000-24000 x the speed of light.
