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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: observations
Rocky Mountain States
It is stories like this one, that can help to explain why I have this urge to pack it all in and move to the mountains. Go read it, it’s short and I will wait. Ultimately it is living life … Continue reading
Posted in observations, Outdoors
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Value
Chris over at The AnarchAngel has penned one of those common sense posts that is a good reminder for all of us, about value. There is a difference between inexpensive and cheap. Chris lays out all out in a very … Continue reading
Posted in observations
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Another Rant
The man who has rapidly taken his place in my top 5 author list has done it again. He went off on a tangent and has created a wonderful rant for us all to howl over. You may find it … Continue reading
Posted in observations, Politics
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Videos, The Internet, and Creativity
The internet is an amazing thing. The blossoming of electronics, digital media, and the venue to publish has created opportunities for people to do things that they might never have had an opportunity to do in say the 1980′s. There … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, History, observations
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It
It amazes me that so many people just don’t get “it”. In this context “it”, is very simply there are things happening in the world that you are not meant to know. These things happen because someone makes a decision. … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Heroes, Military, observations
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Man farm and fleet has already…
Man farm and fleet has already switched over from Halloween to Christmas merchandise. Incredible.
Quirky observation
The quirky observation from this week involves conditioning. We spent one of the days this week in a very large auditorium in the conference center. Big jumbo monitors to either side of the stage, a large 50″ monitor on the … Continue reading
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Cool Gadget
Another one of those cool internet gadgets to characterize yourself by. Interesting results. I write like Dan Brown I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!
Posted in Humor, observations
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Clarity of Purpose
Over at “American Thinker” today they had post titles “President Dogbert”. Now being a fan of Dilbert, and seeing many parallels between Dilbert’s daily adventures and my professional experience I was naturally intrigued by the title. The article is a … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, observations, Politics, Presidential Politics
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VW Jetta Introduction
Volkswagen is unveiling the 2011 Jetta today. Now, it’s not really the car for me. It does not suit my lifestyle or needs. So, why am I writing about it? Well, as I was walking to work this morning they … Continue reading
Posted in observations
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