Posted on 09/18/2008 2:02:34 PM PDT by LibWhacker
New radio wave observations are giving astronomers their closest look yet at the supermassive black hole believed to be lurking at the center of our galaxy.
Reporting in the Sept. 4 Nature, a team has, for the first time, resolved features as small as the black hole’s event horizon — the gravitationally warped region from which nothing, not even light, can escape. “We have now entered a new era, one in which we can directly image structure at the event horizon of a black hole,” asserts Christopher Reynolds of the University of Maryland in College Park in a commentary accompanying the Nature report.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
The more we know, the less we find we really know.
Cool, now we know where to send the leftover Democrats.
In retrospect, it seems obvious that since the galaxy looks like water going down the drain there’s got to be a drain there somewhere.
Don't you know, the formation of the black hole, as with anything else...
...is Bush's fault?
I can’t comment on this without being called a racist.
I also have this sneaking suspicion that's where all my missing socks eventually end up.
Nowadays, we know we don't know, but we just don't know what to think about all that stuff we know we don't know about what we know, let alone all the stuff we don't know we don't know. I mean like, you know...?
That bright, pinkish region in the center is the constellation Sagittarius. The center of our Milk Way galaxy lies in the general direction of Sagittarius. The actual center (see + below) is believed to be located about 25-30,000 light years from Earth. One light year, the distance light travels in a year at its constant speed of apprx 186,000 miles/second, is roughly 6 TRILLION miles.-ETL
The Annotated Galactic Center (denoted +)
Credit: W. Keel (U. Alabama, Tuscaloosa), Cerro Tololo, Chile
Explanation: The sky toward the center of our Galaxy is filled with a wide variety of celestial wonders. Many are easily visible with binoculars. Constellations near the galactic center include Sagittarius, Libra, Scorpius, Scutum, and Ophiuchus. Nebulae include Messier Objects M8, M16, M17, M20 and the Pipe Nebula. Open star clusters include M6, M7, M18, M21, M23, M24, M25. Globular star clusters include M9, M22, M28, M54, M69, M70. And don't forget Baade's Window. Click on the photo to get the un-annotated version.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990911.html
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"The galactic center in the direction of Sagittarius. The primary stars of Sagittarius are indicated in red."
"The galactic center harbors a compact object of very large mass (named Sagittarius A*), strongly suspected to be a supermassive black hole [roughly 3 million times as massive as the Sun]. Most galaxies are believed to have a supermassive black hole at their center.[22]
The Galaxy's bar is thought to be about 27,000 light-years long, running through its center at a 44 ± 10 degree angle to the line between the Sun and the center of the Galaxy. It is composed primarily of red stars, believed to be ancient (see red dwarf, red giant). The bar is surrounded by a ring called the '5-kpc ring' that contains a large fraction of the molecular hydrogen present in the Galaxy, as well as most of the Milky Way's star formation activity. Viewed from the Andromeda Galaxy, it would be the brightest feature of our own galaxy.[23]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way#Galactic_center
I don’t know what you think you know that you insist on saying you don’t know about, but if you knew as much as you think you know, you might know you know less than you really know.
Unless, of course, you know for sure that knowing something is often unknowledgable, in the knowable sense of the word, ya know?
Besides: Only The Shadow knows for sure....;o]
I think the bottom of my purse is the entrance to the black hole. I can never find anything in it.
As a New Yorker, I have 2 questions about the center of the galaxy:
Is it open all night?
How far is it from midtown?
Would it be racist to hope Obama falls into a black hole?
Is it open all night?
As a New Yorker myself, I think I can answer this:
Given that the galactic center is located in Sagittarius, and Sagittarius is currently rising in the New York City area around 3pm, and setting around midnight, it is not open (visible to us) all night.
How far is it from midtown?
About 26,000 light years (26,000 x 6 trillion miles).
Luckily, there is a very bright, white, star-like object in or near Sagittarius at this time. It's not actually a star, but rather the planet Jupiter, currently some 375 million miles from Earth. Perhaps you can stop off there along the way and use the restroom or grab a bite to eat. :)
So that’s where that giant sucking sound is coming from!
I live just beneath a black hole. It sucks.
And out the other end come all those extra clothes hangers.
And that's why you don't want to watch porn in hi-def.
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