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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: Technology
Autos and Technology
There are 3 major trade shows taking place in quick succession. CES, the Detroit Auto Show, and SHOT. As a result there are a lot of concept products being pitched. One of the interesting developments in Detroit is the advent … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Technology
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Green Screen
Remember the old “Is it live or is it Memorex”? tag line. Yes, children, way back in the days of audio tape. Well now you can question everything that you see on that big flat panel LCD screen that you … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Sci-fi, Technology
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Cyber War
An interesting question is raised over at Defensetech.org. Does the 2nd Amendment provide citizens the right to defend themselves against a cyber attack? The 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution is often referred to as the “right to keep and … Continue reading
Posted in Technology, Terrorism, Threats
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Taking Back the Infantry Half-Kilometer | Defense Tech
A nice piece in Defense Tech, that leads to the source article. In short, the Army’s approach to training and fighting was great for Iraq and an urban environment. In Afghanistan… not working so well. Long range fire fights are … Continue reading
Posted in Military, Technology
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Target?
Well it seems that the new adminstration is bringing some baggage with it. No not all of the scandels that you are hearing about… some security worries. Seriously, there are probably a ton of security changes that are made on … Continue reading
Posted in Presidential Politics, Technology
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Fixing The Auto Industry
A lot has been said about “bailing out” the traditional Big 3 auto makers in the US. I am looking at some of this, and thinking… nope, wouldn’t be prudent. Bottom line, they have it figured out. They NEED to … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Economics, Technology
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Raptor
I finally found the time to take a look at this video that was posted over at Lex’s. Good comments on this post (as usual at Lex’s) too. WOW! I never understood what the USAF was so excited about with … Continue reading
Posted in Aviation, Technology
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