Krypton Located Orbiting Rao
What can be more awesome than Science superhero Neil deGrasse Tyson teaming up with Superman to find Krypton, just in time to watch it explode, while it orbits around a red dwarf star named…Rao? That’s the plot of the new DC Comics Action Comic #14. Turns out that Superman has been hanging around the Hayden Planetarium in NYC, hoping to catch the dying throes of his home planet Krypton. The light from the planet is only just reaching earth, as it is 27 light years away. The baby Superman, of course, made use of a handy worm hole and got here instantly.
DeGrasse Tyson, who cameos in the comic, finds just the right star to fit the bill: LHS 2520 is located in the constellation Corvus — 27.1 light-years from Earth. With a highly turbulent surface, it is but a dim bulb, much cooler and smaller than the sun. Our hero Tyson comes to the rescue..putting multiple telescopes to work together to form an interferometer — a super-powerful device that, in the comic, is so big that it “turn[s] the entire Earth into one coherent telescope.” Superman has the sadz, but as Tyson admits, “It was a huggable moment.”
NPR Interview: http://goo.gl/O94Ei
Bad Astronomer blog: http://goo.gl/n81Lm
#ScienceEveryday when it’s not #ScienceSunday .
madame scientist's not-so-mad musings 
Must be some message sent to Earth from the exploding Krypton that is next to Rao.
If they were to name a star after me, why did it have to be described as a “dim bulb”? 🙂
I hope you waved to the telescope before everything went ka-blooey
love this!!
Perhaps you’d like to share your origin story…
Superb !!
Love it. Dim bulb? Nah you’re a bright white star.
Yea, Rajini Rao as Don says, is that the planet of your origin? (Funny you don’t
soundwrite like an Alien…)Wonderful!
Hey Rajini Rao did you write red dwarf planet instead of star by mistake?
A “dull bulb” who would never be arrested for incandescent exposure…
That’s great!
Ooops, I did write “planet” instead of “star” by mistake. Dim bulb moment.
Thanks, Pradeep Doddaballapur ! 🙂
John Christopher , just keep the Kryptonite away from me.
Matthias Freiberger , the dialogue was never their forte, was it?
Yes! Raos #FTW ! Thank you, former Brit rulers, for forcing my granddad to take up a surname. 😛
Exactly right, Achintya Rao 🙂
I’m always having to explain the surname and why it is essentially a generic version of Esquire.
And here I thought it was an honorary term reserved for statisticians…
Rao or Esq? William McGarvey 🙂
Rajini Rao See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calyampudi_Radhakrishna_Rao
Here’s the Wiki entry: Rao/राओ/رااہ is an Indian princely title cognate with Raja (King). It’s also used as a surname across India, Pakistan, China, Taiwan, Italy and Brazil. Rao is also used as an addition to one’s name or as a suffix to a male name in some places.
Rao is commonly added as a suffix to a person’s name in southern, northern and western parts of India..”
I once received a phone call from a woman who insisted that I must be one of the Sicilian Rao’s and that she knew all of them. There were some mild Mafia undertones in her conversation.
I think you mentioned him before, Bill. I remember him now. There are any number of famous mathematicians, physicists and scientists with that last name. Subbarao was the biochemist who discovered ATP and methotrexate in the treatment of cancer, considered one of the most unsung heroes in the field. Harvard never gave him tenure despite these astonishingly important discoveries.
Rajini Rao: In my granddad’s case, it was because us weird South Indians don’t use a “standard” naming system of Name Surname, and his name was actually in the Village-name First-name format. His name (Bheemrao) was therefore hacked by the Brits into two to give him a first name (Bheem) and a last name (Rao). Same thing happened to my other granddad, as Vasudevacharya was split into Vasudev Acharya. 🙂
Do you think the word itself is etymologically related to “roi” (king)? Wikipedia insists that there is [citation needed].
Achintya Rao , we have the same naming system too (south Kanara). My father is from Pejaver, so his real name is P. Radhakrishna..the Rao is just tacked on the end as a gesture of respect (“rai-ru” for example, is used to denote a gentleman). My brother dumped the Rao and goes by Rajaram Pejaver. My husband’s family are all Rao’s of course, so I didn’t have to consider a name change.
Interesting point re. a possible connection to the word roi…have to look into it.
I’m from South Kanara as well. 🙂 We speak proper Kannada!
I always thought here was a connection with “roi” given that the words mean the same thing –– raja, rai, roi etc. Proto Indi-European?
Haha, yes..we speak text book Kannada too (and Tulu), not the strange lingo you hear in B’lore. Thanks for the head’s up on the etymology, never thought of the link but it does make sense.
It would appear there is a connection! http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=regal
So is Larry King. And Prince. 😛
Rajini Rao atp? #woot
Arnav Kalra , anyone who says ATP #woot is a prince in my book 😉 Do you know, when I first met my husband-to-be, he asked me what I worked on..and I explained about ATP, pausing to ask him if he knew what that was? He asked, “Association of Tennis Professionals?” And I married him anyway
Achintya Rao , you do realize that we are likely from the same genetic pool? 🙂
Feisal Kamil , I’d rather be Prince than Larry King!
Rajini Rao: Yes, I figured we probably are. 😀
You must’ve heard this one before:
A man walks into a chemist’s in London and asks for some adenosine triphosphate. The chemist says, “That’ll be 80p.”
Ba-dum-tish!
You may wish to consider bribing me. One phone call to my mother enquiring about “our boys” in Geneva could result in a flurry of horoscopes filling your mailbox, if you know what I mean? 😉
Achintya Rao , yes I love 80p!
Rajini Rao: Hah! Good luck with that. 😛
Rajini Rao sorry, but I can’t control my laughter. Adenosine triphosphate should be more famous than tennis as it fuels everyone.
I hope your husband’s more careful now.
I’m sure ATP rankings in tennis are better known worldwide than the chemical formula…unfortunately 🙂
Famous last words, Achintya Rao ? 😀
Tombstone worthy, I should think! 😀
I don’t know the formula of atp.
Thanks Rajini Rao your mention of dr subbarao will lead to the creation of a editorial in a journal. My dad’s thanking me for telling him. Thank you. 🙂
Arnav Kalra , if there is a link to this editorial when it is done, I’d love to see it, thanks.
Rajini Rao you need to wait till June for the published version. I will send you the draft after it’s written.
Check out ijem.in even I understand most of the editorials.
Don’t forget that those “dim bulbs” get to see it all! The fat ones might burn bright but they’ll be lucky to make it past a few 100,000 years. On the other hand, red dwarfs like yourself have a staggering 10 trillion year life expectancy… You will remain young practically forever. 🙂
Best response I’ve had to this “Rao” business comes from my brother, Aditya Rao:
“Wait a minute! So my name becomes ‘Sun Sun’??? 😛 Or maybe ‘Star Star’?”
That’s my brother! 😀