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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: July 23, 2009
Unbelievable Behaviors
Life has a way of throwing us curve balls. When it does, the character of the individual usually comes out. Hopefully we all rise to the occasion but the reality is that in most of those cases our minds, and … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
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Comedy from yesteryear
Maybe I’ll do a series of posts like this… I do enjoy a lot of the older comedy.
Posted in Culture, Humor
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Knife Control
Stats can be twisted however you want but, at first blush this one gets the “Why am I not surprised” reaction. The number of knife deaths in areas targeted by an anti-knife crime scheme has risen, the Home Office has … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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