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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: December 29, 2009
Something’s Brewing
There have always been social and cultural issues within this nation. Whenever you construct a nation out of immigrants with distinct cultures, and historical bias you will always run into conflict. Perhaps in my wisdom gathering maturity I am becoming … Continue reading
Posted in Culture
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Illegal Border Crossing – Technology
Here’s one that got my blood simmering this morning. It seems that some of the good folks at the University of California at San Diego have determined that the folks who cross our southern border without going through official channels … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Foriegn Policy, Politics
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