to most people, the moon is up there, in the galaxy; big and bright, silver and illuminating, ranging from boiling hot to freezing cold. but to jihoon, the moon is down here. smiling and laughing as if he doesn't know that his smile is the closest t...
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consider a binary star system consisting of two 1.5M⊙ neutron stars. suppose one of the neutron stars is a pulsar with an average observed pulse period of exactly 2 seconds. if the orbit is circular and edge-on to our line of sight, what is the maximum and minimum pulse period observed?
"bullshit," jihoon mumbles, earning a laugh from mingyu who is just seated across the aisle. he does some scribbles on his paper so the professor won't get his attention. seriously, who gets excited over solving equations on the board then explaining it? "lee jihoon, please show your answer on the board."
motherfucker.
"ooh, bingo," mingyu whispers. jihoon takes the opportunity to hit the boy's head when he stands up to go in front with his paper. then he explains drawlingly as he writes equations on the board. "usingthe newtonian doppler formula or whatever, we can say that the longest pulse period is 2.001 and the shortest is 1.999. thanks." he puts the cap back on the marker and spins it between his fingers before giving it back to the professor.
a clap from mingyu is heard inside the whole classroom as jihoon goes back to his seat. mingyu is really embarrassing, he says to himself. "now, let's see if all of you did your assignment on asteroid XE4." he hears the professor announce. jihoon could only roll his eyes. he's too bothered by the fact that the world could end in just a week and he still doesn't know who is soulmate is.
but knowing nasa and its scientists, they could send a nearly nine-ton bulk impactor to push the asteroid out of earth's orbit or nudge it out of its apocalyptic path using a nuclear device. jihoon is praying that things will go well for him.
during the lecture, he looks at the window and starts spacing out, wondering about what his soulmate is like. he wonders about his lover's soft hair, smile that could drive him across a thousand galaxies, soul beautifully handcrafted into a nebula. jihoon never really liked the idea of dreaming about such things, but he just can't stop thinking that somewhere in this expanding universe, stellar collision awaits him and his lover.
but may 17th passed by so quick. will he still meet the love of his life or did they already miss the chance to be together? it hurts him to think about the possibility that maybe his other half is going after a different horizon as of this moment.
jihoon lets himself get lifted far up the sky for a moment before gravity pulls him down to reality.
gravity has three syllables and so does kim mingyu.
"chop chop, time to go home," the tall boy tells him. jihoon blinks for a few times, wondering how long he spaced out to not notice that the lecture is finally over. he's so focused on the things he worries about that the universe could just hit him with an asteroid and he wouldn't even fucking mind.
