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- Portrait of a Doomed Asteroid
A new study provides a possible explanation of mysterious X-ray flares detected by the Chandra K-ray Observatory for several years in the region of Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*. The study suggests a cloud around Sgr A*, a supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, which contains hundreds of trillions of asteroids and comets that have been stripped from their parent stars. The flares occur when asteroids of six miles or larger in radius are consumed by the black hole. An asteroid that undergoes a close encounter with another object, such as a star or planet, can be thrown into an orbit headed towards Sgr A*. If the asteroid passes within about 100 million miles of the black hole, roughly the distance between the Earth and the sun, it is torn into pieces by the tidal forces from the black hole. These fragments would then be vaporized by friction as they pass through the hot, thin gas flowing onto Sgr A*, similar to a meteor heating up and glowing as it falls through Earth's atmosphere. A flare is produced and eventually the remains of the asteroid are swallowed by the black hole. Image Credit: Illustrations: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
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Daily Archives: May 11, 2009
A Saturn V / Apollo launch. I…
A Saturn V / Apollo launch. I miss those
RT @NASA: Atlantis has achieve…
RT @NASA: Atlantis has achieved orbit eight minutes, 30 seconds after its launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. – Still not as cool …
RT @NASA: Launch! On time at 2…
RT @NASA: Launch! On time at 2:01:56 p.m. EDT. – Very cool video from NASA
RT @NASA: Final countdown has …
RT @NASA: Final countdown has begun. 2:01:56 EDT launch time. Watch on NASA TV and http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
Hey NASA still call the crew t…
Hey NASA still call the crew transport vehicle an “Astro Van”. Very cool, even if I do have a vision of the Jetsons going through my head
Space Shuttle Launch Today
Atlantis is in place, fueled and ready to go. Crew is boarding. Weather looks good. There won’t be too many more of these space shuttle flights as the platform ages, and the budgets continue to shrink. Take the time to … Continue reading
Posted in Aviation, Science, Space
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Another day in the Q4 push. I…
Another day in the Q4 push. I don’t care to comment on work but it is dragging me down right now and for a few more weeks.