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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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Category Archives: Foriegn Policy
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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The “Surge”
Life has been intruding lately and I have been absent from meaningful posting. Apologies. Even though it is very near the holidays, and demands on the “spare time” are high, I am working to remedy my absence. We start with … Continue reading
Posted in Foriegn Policy, GWOT, Presidential Politics
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Scary Season
The scary season of Halloween is rapidly approaching, and all of the little ghouls and goblins are preparing for the event. The decorations are coming out in the neighborhood, with tombstones, and skeletons rising from the front lawns of suburbia. … Continue reading
Posted in Foriegn Policy, Politics, Threats
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My How Times Have Changed
Today we have “journalists” that have been convicted for crimes in North Korea. Historically our response would probably have been to overtly move a carrier battle group into the area. Supplement that with some covert activity in North Korean waters, … Continue reading
Posted in Foriegn Policy
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Piracy
A lot of attention has been given lately to the piracy taking place in the Gulf of Aden. Recently a US flagged merchant ship was attacked. The crew were unarmed and unable to repel borders. The US Government has taken … Continue reading
Posted in Foriegn Policy, GWOT, Humor
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Fairness
Having young children, I hear “It’s not fair” and awful lot. Recently, we have heard a lot about proportional responses equating to “fairness”. I agree with the following sentiments.
Posted in Foriegn Policy
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Georgia – Not Good
There has been a lot of reaction to those that have been watching the events in Central Asia. Stratfor has done their usual great job of breaking down the facts from the information available. Others have discussed it being a … Continue reading
Posted in Foriegn Policy
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Iranian Fusion
Ed Morrisey over at Hot Air popped this one up a few days ago. He nails most of this on the head so I won’t drive too deep into it. I looked at the headline and the fusion comment puzzled … Continue reading
Posted in Foriegn Policy, Iran, Terrorism, Threats
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Did You Know…
Oil shale… this is something that has been talked about and around since I first started looking into energy when I was a Boy Scout back in the early ’70s. One of my first merit badges was for nuclear energy. … Continue reading
Posted in Energy, Foriegn Policy, Politics, Uncategorized
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Nicaragua? Again?
Well it looks like we are seeing some new threats try and creep under the radar here. Please go read this article in the NY Sun. I’ll wait, the rest of my comments will make sense after your reading assignment. … Continue reading
Posted in Foriegn Policy, Terrorism
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