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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: Weather
The Symphony
Ah, the neighborhood symphony of snow blowers kicked off at 0545 this morning. First time this season…. It’s going to be a long day.
Posted in Current Events, Weather
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Changing Seasons
I got off the plane the other night and walked out into…. a chilly night. Now admittedly it was after midnight, and I had just had one of the worst commercial flights that I have ever taken but walking out … Continue reading
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Earth Science
Who knew that these guys were out there, sitting in their labs and crunching numbers like this. Even more interesting is going to be what the global warming crowd can do with things like this. From NASA…. The Feb. 27 … Continue reading
Posted in Climate, Science, Weather
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Traveling for Business
Sometimes, it sucks. This trip is one of those. Evidently I missed the forecast that had a retrograding Nor’easter passing across NYC yesterday, and today, and…. I was able to spend an extra night away from home as a result. … Continue reading
Posted in Humor, Weather
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About That Global Warming Thing…
Nevermind. At least that is what it seems like around here lately. So, common sense observations appear to be backed up by scientific fact. The earth is now on the brink of entering another Ice Age, according to a large … Continue reading
Posted in Science, Weather
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A Glorious Cold Dawn
Well here it is, another early Sunday morning. It’s -3 F with a wind chill approaching -36F. The dogs have been out for their morning constitutional already. A bit abbreviated, as the puppy kept getting leg cramps. The Grand Ole … Continue reading
Posted in Dogs, Weather
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