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Subscribe to RSSVideo from the European Southern Observatory tells you all about the massive gas cloud that's heading for the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
Researchers are watching the first scenes of a cosmic show that's expected to heat up over the next year as a giant gas cloud approaches the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy.
The impending collision was the subject of a research paper published in Nature last December, and now Youris.com, the European Research Media Center, is providing an update: By mid-2013, the cloud is expected to pass in the vicinity of the black hole, known as Sagittarius A*, at a distance of 36 light-hours, or less than 25 billion miles (40 billion kilometers).
Black holes are gravitational singularities so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape their grip. They can only be detected by their gravitational influence on their surroundings, or by the blazing swirl of material being sucked down into their maw.
Some black holes are thought to be created when massive stars collapse. Others, like Sagittarius A*, are thought to be crushed into existence as part of the galaxy formation process. Sagittarius A* is 4.3 million times as massive as our sun, and is located 27,000 light-years from our solar system. There's no danger that this black hole will gobble up the galaxy — in fact, it's unusually well-behaved, which is one reason why humanity has been able to hang around long enough to detect it.
Stefan Gillessen, an astrophysicist at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, has been observing Sagittarius A* for the past 20 years. He says next year's encounter could provide an unprecedented view of our supermassive black hole at its best ... or at its worst.
Youris.com
A computer simulation shows the elongation and breakup of a cloud of gas as it encounters the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Click on the image for an update and video on the encounter, which is expected to begin in 2013.
"So far, there were only two stars that came that close to Sagittarius A*," Youris.com quotes him as saying. "They passed unharmed, but this time will be different: The gas cloud will be completely ripped apart by the tidal forces of the black hole."
Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory say the speed of the cloud's progress has nearly doubled over the past seven years, to more than 5 million mph (8 million kilometers per hour). They report that the cloud's edges are already beginning to shred. During the months to come, it should break up into elongated filaments. "It will look like spaghetti," Gillessen said.
The cloud is also expected to get much hotter, and will probably start emitting X-rays.
Reinhard Genzel, who heads the ESO's team of astronomers, said the show won't end with next year's expected encounter.
"The next few years will be really fantastic and exciting, because we're probing the territory," he said in the Youris.com video report. "Here this cloud comes in, gets disrupted, but now it will begin to interact with the hot gas right around the black hole. We have never seen this before."
Update for 11:20 a.m. ET June 29: I've added the preferred title for the European media center, Youris.com.
More about black holes:
- Scientists closing in on Milky Way's black hole
- Astronomers set up virtual telescope for black holes
- X-ray observatory launched to hunt for black holes
- Video: Researchers see black hole devour star
- Cosmic Log archive on black holes
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Leave a Comment:
I would like to see the data and possible images of the stars that supposedly passed close to the black hole.
Where can we find that?
Absolutely agreed. I'd love to see the images produced by this show of nature.
Andrea Ghez is a friend; she heads up the UCLA Galactic Centre Group - lots of cool stuff on their site:
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~ghezgroup/gc/
This will start as an x-ray emitting event, so the first data will likely come from the Chandra and XMM-Newton space telescopes.
There is an enormous amount of dust and gas between us and Sag A* (the central black hole at the heart of our Milky Way) so this will not be a "gotta make a poster / t-shirt / desktop wallpaper" kind of event.
I'll try to see what else is available picture-wise ... thanks so much for the pointer and the info, Michael!
@ michael
"This will start as an x-ray emitting event"
actually it will be emitting IR long before the X-rays and we can detect that through the dust much more easily.
OK, Wade, OK - true, depending on what we're talking about.
Basic detection - yes, IR. But for people looking for "this show of nature" and "images of stars passing close by the black hole" - the cosmic level beautiful and dramatic photos that folks clamor for, will light up in x-ray at closest approach.
It's kinda like watching a lunar eclipse. You and I may enjoy the first moment of contact, and the sloooow progression of the Earth's shadow across the Moon - a several hour event. There are of course other folks who want to know when the best 2 minutes of the eclipse will happen.
They want just the homers and the triple plays, rather than the whole 9-inning match.
I want to know why we did not see an article on this, the two stars that passed:
And is the only reason we are getting an article on this event because we have an "artist's conception" or "computer generated image"? I almost despise the false images. Almost.
I've seen these pictures, in a documentary. They're not much to look at, just streaks of light, partial ellipses, on a dark background. They tend to be long and thin ellipses, since the orbits are mostly in the same plane we are. The key is that they all appear to be orbiting the same point in space, which in the pictures appears to be an empty spot.
Again, it's not so much pictures, it's the information.
Unless there is something "pretty" to look at, they don't report.
tonyindallas, re your first question:
http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~ghezgroup/gc/pictures/orbitsMovie.shtml
little clip of the stellar motion over the last few years
oops, I should read the whole thread first, michael beat me to it, LOL
and an empty spot with enough mass to throw a bunch of stars around without being significantly affected, which implies a whole lot of mass
It is rare that anything interesting occurs in the universe during the existence of mankind (a cosmic micro second), much less during a time that mankind actually has the technology to observe it (a cosmic nano second). Pretty exciting prospect to see a cosmic duct bunny dance with a black hole. Hope we get good observations.
Is it not also interesting that mankind rare does anything interesting during the existence of mankind much less during a time that mankind actually has the technology to do it.
This cosmic event seems undoubtedly that biggest event ever recorded by man. Will mankind ever do anything that would set himself apart from his past wanderings, using his technology? This deeply philosophical question, because if the habit of wasting opportunities. What equipment will be available for this historic event.
The way I see it, there are basically an infinite amount of events going on around us. With ever-better technology, we will eventually be able to see any event happening at any time, in any stage of the event.
I have to disagree about it being rare that interesting things happen. Several times a year we hear about something interesting happening in the universe around us. As technology evolves the frequency of those interesting things we can observe will increase. The only people who would not find things happening around us interesting are the people who don't care in the first place. For all of the people who do like to look up and wonder, there is always something interesting going on.
Has anyone else considered the timing of this event? I mean with all the ancient prophecy hype lately, a rare cosmic event spewing "X" rays seems kind of problematic to me. i hope everything keeps right on a spinning...
JP, I've been an astronomer for 30 years, and a skygazer for 50.
There is nothing "lately" about ancient prophecy BS; it has always been there, and always will be. It's sad, but too many people prefer the fantasy of ancient prophecy, no matter how ridiculous or how many times proven wrong.
Just ask Harold Camping's followers.
As for "spewing x-rays", this is happening 25,525,000,000,000,000 kilometers (15,860,000,000,000,000 miles) away; so far away that even at the speed of light we are only now seeing this happen, even though it actually occurred some 27,000 years ago. So far away that astronomy's very best instruments will have to stain mightily to detect a few stray photons from this event.
Everything WILL keep right on spinning, as it has for billions of years, and will continue to do so for billions more.
I doubt that.
My personal favorite biggest cosmic event was the Big Bang. Entire galaxies colliding are pretty exciting cosmic events, too.
We have already seen events similar to this in neighbouring galaxies, so this isn't even particularly novel. What makes this fresh is that it's in OUR galaxy, and being closer will be easier for astronomers to study in detail.
Cool, yes. Biggest cosmic event ever? Hardly.
#2.5
lol, well said there Michael, Just because we see something " new " does not make it " new " in the universal time frame, and NO the " Mayans " did not " prophesy the END " see their THREE (3) Circular rock calendar, it is based on 144.000 years and it being circular, Guess what NO end, like a week comes " Sabbath 7th next cometh Kyriaki (Sunday(Main or First 1st) for ever repeating!!
#2.6
Err, NO there were no " Big Galaxies " at the Big Bang, where did you get that from?
I predict the end of the world on December 31, 2012. That's when my calendar ends, so it must be the end of time.
LOL err, Tony does this Calendar page belong you you, a Goat was eating it !! lol
eagle, i think you misread 2.6:
the big bang was a big event (the biggest in our universe), AND colliding galaxies are pretty exciting too.
ok, lets go over this again, Big Bang, as a " Theory " does not answer a lot of questions, one of them is " why is the universe accelerating in its expansion " so, then to Me, that would indicate that that " theory " might in time be replaced, so I would not talk about the " Big Bang " as a Fact, in any form.
actually, the question is why does the universe appear to be accelerating?
the current working theory is dark energy
side note;
sorry about the tags bit, I was playing with the xhtml tags
#2.13
ok, so with All the data You have, what would cause any matter to accelerate?
Then ask yourself, if that " article " is ahead of the ejecta from the BB, what does that say about the BB?
Eagle, read 6.5, which describes why there is no "ejecta" from the big bang as well as I could.
also, you could read this, (which does not cover the apparent expansion):
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=misconceptions-about-the-2005-03
LOL at No ejecta from the BB, maybe we need a new definition for ejecta? I will not bother have a nice day!
Eagle, you too, but the "expansion" does not cover what we would percieve as "ejecta" since there is no true "center".
This is a question I have had. Are we measuring correctly? Are we taking into account all factors? (probably not, since we continue to adjust our info) Are we taking into account light traveling distances? (if we take a picture of another galaxy that is "tilted" from out point of view, the light from the far edge might be 200,000 or 300, 000 light years different from the light from the near edge)
Also, considering the old phrase, "Nature abhors a vacuum", could the Universe be expanding simply because it is being "sucked" into the nothingness beyond?
#2.19
First things first. get rid of the " light year " crapology and use " c " since " light speed can be ANY speed from zero to 10X " c " then one might be able to get a clearer picture.
Since c = the speed of light, a speed of zero would put a light year at nothing. Now you have invalidated the entire measurement of distance. However, since c = the speed of light in a vacuum, and is considered a universal constant of 299,792,458 meters per second, you can still use "light year" as a distance measure.
#2.21
Vacuum? and YOU think space is a Vacuum, err ok I bow to your better science knowledge LOL
To anyone that might think, what is Gravitational Lensing, so how does that effect light, and that means?
that gravity affects light is already proven, and measured, "gravitational lensing" is no big mystery. gravity bends light along with the space that it also bends.
so gravitational lensing is a "local" slowing of light just as light slows in an optical lens, just because the "local" effect covers many thousands of light years (as in galaxy clusters), doesn't change the fact that it is a "local" effect.
"Local" being relative.
In other words, as Dan was saying, the bending of light with gravity allows using the this gravity effect as we use a lens, to better focus on distant objects.
Just to be sure I understand it, this is 27,000 LY away so this event is old history...obviously new to us. This X ray emitting event....any idea how strong, is it expected to be above the average noise level of space, how long will it take for all of the passing dust to get sucked in by the BH?
Such a small amount that our very best instruments will have to strain to see it at all.
Very little of the material will actually fall into the Sag A*; but the vast majority will be greatly disturbed by extreme tidal forces as it passes by the supermassive black hole - creating a lot of radiation that astronomers will be trying to analyze over the incredibly vast distance between us and the event.
That said, the total event is like watching grass grow, taking (depending on how my define the encounter) ~2 years from start to finish; we're about 1/3rd of the way into it now.
I've always a bit of a problem with the name "Black Hole" when it's really not a hole but a super dense mass with an incredible gravitational force from what I've ever heard about them , pertaining to their description and how they are created ....
Like a collapsed sun and some other ideas of how a "Black Hole" is made ....
Maybe it's just me .... ??
Thanks Alan ....
Wow , I must have been really tire ....
I meant to say ....
I've always "HAD" a bit of a problem with the name "Black Hole " ....
Well , maybe I can blame it on a black hole that just sucked the word "HAD" right out of my post with its mighty gravitational powers .... "LOL"
I guess they call it a "hole" because things fall into it. Two-dimensional representations of the warp of space-time cause by the gravity field of a black hole look like a hole too. They call it black because even light does not come out.
@ Bigbenalasska
in my mind the "HOLE" in black hole more refers to the hole in are understanding of said object....perhaps when we have a complete understanding we will have a need to change the name or come up with an acronym like BFGP
@bigbennalasska
Hey, leave my black hole alone!
I agree with you, Ben. That's how I've always thought about the term too. I suppose we'll hear more and more about it as we get closer to 2013. There will be awesome computer simulated photos. It's almost sad that this cloud is basically going to be pulled into the black hole. It reminds of a black widow spider luring her "prey" into her web.
Ben, don't worry about words or anything else on CL. ;-)
Thanks Alan as always!
Thanks Alan as always!Thanks as always, Alan. My dyslexia be working overtime. Seriously, Ben. lol
Your responses are proof and conformation why "The Cosmic Log" is a must stop by when browsing ....
You're like witty thinking machines with a little humor thrown in .... "LOL"
Thanks ....
It's always fun here ....
Wow, Ben! Thank you!
Gonna have to agree with Ben's statements. The Space section of MSNBC is always my first stop when browsing the news; not just for the articles but the hope for some intelligent discourse. Once I've weeded out the religio-political ramblings and can distill out some scientific dialog, I find this place to be quite refreshing.
This will be good to see though since we now have more knowledge than has ever bean available before to the species it is only being used to destroy our planet by the mamists. Hey wanna know where we all came from? We (homo sapians) were told for 2 or 3 thousand years there were only 4 elements, earth, fire water, and air Wrong There are only 2 elements. Bitz, and iz. Hey thats all thats out there Bitz which are piecies of matter ,used to be part of a star planet or whatwhen smashed or colided or whatever to matters smallest piece send one molecules through a hole and you get 2 impacts ,Budt with a super electron micro scope you can see shock waves. Smallest bit when it grows will be one of the known elements to its smallest part,but, photon ,or what it will be born at the speed of light. Now it wont like this because it wants to really go fast.Cant its held to the speed of light when it bumps into iz. the fabric of the universe, Currently called anti matter,(never mind 70 % of the universe is composed of iz.Its called anti matter as the type wave its composed of is not understood ,and the human mind does not deal well with infinate when you get to the end of the universe you will see in any direction you search just what you see from this one. it doesnt end or begin no one and nothing made it it is just here composed of matter Bitz,and iz the unseen wave tkhat is the ether holding matter to the speed of light. If you would understand the universe or life you would study waves brain waves shock waves time waves, and the strange energy wave called life. Sucker. thank,s
Sound like a good start for a new cult. You can charge good money for teaching this nonsense to the converts.
What the hell did I just read?
i don't know, something about itsy bitsy spiders climbing up a water spout or something to the same effect.
According to the Big Bang theory, all of our currently known universe was contained in a singularity just prior to the "bang" (someone please correct me if I am misunderstanding or incorrectly quoting the accepted theory here). Would this "singularity" not be synonymous with the definition on a black hole? If this statement is true, then how did all of the matter, light and energy escape? Further more, after the "big "bang" everything would have traveled outward in all directions away from the "bang", therefore, not only would there remain a void in the middle of our universe where no matter or energy exist but we should be able to identify exactly where the "bang" occurred by measuring the different trajectories of the galaxies today. Also, how can we be sure that under these early conditions, light did not undergo some period of acceleration and if so, how would that affect accepted theory regarding the formation and development of the universe. And just one more question if I may: Since time serves to separate events into a sequence and since prior to the "big bang" there would have been no events and therefore no time, then what could have triggered the "bang" except some outside force from another universe or "place" currently unknown to us?
dandaman
I'm pretty sure the butler did it
Dandaman, you're dreaming (or hallucinating) if you expect an actual answer to your post in this forum.
Your questions aren't new, and most have been answered -- but If you're truly interested in those answers, you're going to need to do some reading.
There are many sources of information, but most are too dense with math and theoretical physics to be understood by non-scientists. (And in fact, some of the most challenging ideas are outside the grasp of many working physicists.)
You might try starting with the books of Brian Greene. His pitch is aimed at "informed laypersons." (Or at least intellectually curious ones.)
@ Dandaman
if your statement is correct then we are still inside said black hole and all the matter has not escaped nor will it
further more it is nonsense to describe the location of an object by referencing the object its self as in
" where inside the universe is the universe"
Bush did it....
There is no location of where the Big Bang started because it started everywhere. I know that's a little obtuse and hard to grasp.
Assuming that the big bang happened in a point of space that you can actually visit, assumes also that there was a space outside of the single point of the big bang (meaning, it exploded outward from a point, and if you magically time-traveled to the time before the big bang, you could stand in this space outside of the single starting point and observe it happen).
But that isn't the case. There was no "outside," because everything in the universe existed inside the singular point of the big bang. And everything is now moving away from everything else. You're already at the center. And that space located 10 feet away from you? That space was in the center of the big bang, too. The chair you're sitting on? All that matter was in the center, too. The electrons that carried this web page were all in the center, as well.
It was not just matter that "exploded" outward from the big bang. it was space itself, so there is no "middle" that it exploded away from. it is called "expansion" and it took place for a fraction of a fraction of a second after the big bang.
Here's what I don't understand - the scientists will observe this in "real time." But it's 27,000 light years away. Did it happen 27,000 years ago? Or is it happening now and they're able to observe it through some technique I don't understand?
Pardon the stupid question....but I don't understand how they're observing something 27,000 light-years away in "real time."
We are observing it as the information reaches us. These x-rays have indeed been traveling for thousands of years. Although with the continued expansion of the universe, I'm not totally sure if it has been traveling for the exact amount of years as it is light-years away from us.
Yes, I guess I should keep that limited-speed-of-light and no-simultaneity rule in mind when writing about timing. "Real time" is a squishy concept due to relativity.
Two rules astronomers use for timekeeping:
1) If we're seeing it now, we say that it's happening now (no matter the actual time that it took for the light to arrive).
2) It ain't tomorrow until you've slept (to get around the inevitable 5:00am discussion at the observatory as to whether it's the same day "right now" as it was when we started our shift). Hence, why I'm posting this today at the crack of noon.
Well, then we don't see anything in "real time". If you watch a plane fly over, you are not seeing it in "real time", because it took a few fractions of a second for the light to reach your eyes.
So every thing in the universe has it's own little time zone
Michael,
We used rule 2 when I was an undergrad, but we had to add "or the sun comes up" to keep from having allnighters leading to us being in different days...
Dear major scientists, (Greetings Earthlings!) Please, please, please stop telling me that nothing escapes a black hole. Please remember about the bipolar high energy jets they produce. I think its very logical and plain to view with all the data already available. An excellent article, well worth a read though
Actually the way physicists explain it, those polar jets are produced by the intense magnetic fields centered on the black hole acting upon material that is OUTSIDE the black hole. They magnetic fields tear apart matter at the accretion disk; the resulting plasma jets are the ejecta of that process.
That said, black holes still may emit matter. Hawking has described a process of "evaporation" that occurs through the decoupling of virtual particle pairs.
Keerect, Leftcoastblue. Hawking radiation arises through the activity of virtual particles that pop into existence. It's a neat trick, but it's a little more complicated than saying that black holes emit matter.
If I may add a bit to leftcoastblue's excellent post....
Black holes are very messy eaters. Only about half the material it attempts to consume actually the black hole proper (inside the "event horizon"); the other half-ish is accelerated away at relativistic speeds, ramping up its energy level to bee seen as the polar jets that Andrew is referring to.
The jets that we see are the cosmic shirt stains in the black hole's pie eating contest.
Thanks, Alan, I always look forward to reading your stuff.
And, Michael, good analogy...
I think that the entire galaxy is a process by which matter falls in the central black hole. In the future, all that is going to be is black holes, slowly evaporating, surrounded by an ever-increasing void. Of course, for us, it's going to be black hole that is created by the impending merger between the Milky Way's black hole and Andromeda's.
Unless you are thinking in a timescale of many trillions of years, Byron - many thousands of times older than the life of the entire Universe so far - I think not.
Even after our Sun, and stars like ours, have given up the ghost, the degenerate material (the "corpses" of the stars) will continue to orbit around the galaxy for such eons of time that even astronomers are aghast at the true depth of the endless eternity.
A really, really long time....
You may really enjoy a book by Fred Adams, "The Five Ages of the Universe", which details our current best understanding of how the future of stars, galaxies, and everything will unfold. (Fred is a friend, so I am admittedly a bit biased when I say that his book is excellent.)
Very good way to put the timescale into perspective, Michael. (I personally like Douglas Adams account of the universe, but that's just because it appeals more to my twisted sense of humor, lol). But truly, the time scales that are expected before this universe consists of cold cinders that slowly evaporate boggles the mind. The mind really cannot begin to grasp it.
I read that the final evaporation of black holes at the end of our universe will take roughly 10100 years.
(edit) well, the superscript tag sort of worked, but it looks more like a subscript in the end result, looks fine on the edit page
10 to the 100th power years
Black hole jets extend well outside of the range of their previously thought ( never read the above anywhere else, my idea) totally overwhelming gravitational pull. 77 kpc in the following case wiki/Messier_87#Jet
This should be a great show... to watch as the gas lights up from heating around the black hole and see how it affects the jets. It should give them pretty good profiles for x-ray and other emissions as it progresses.
Just for kicks, in the video of the black hole dining on that gas cloud, shall we follow it up with a sound effect of a modest belch? :-)
"Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation"... 2 Peter 3:3-4
The Bible prophesies are REAL...every prophecy of the Word of God HAS BEEN fulfilled and every prophecy not yet fulfilled WILL BE fulfilled.
Jesus said that of "that day" no man knows the day nor the hour...NO MAN! Harold Camping is a charlatan...Jesus said to expect people like Camping to show up in the last days. These are the last days. The earth will not keep on spinning! The Age of Grace (time given by God the Father to humans to repent from our sins through His Son, Jesus), is coming to a close!
The Rapture ("that day") believing Christians talk about is not the same as the End of the World. The Rapture will take place suddenly and without warning. God will spare born again Christians from the hell and chaos that will follow just like he spared Noah from the flood and Lot from the city before God destroyed it with fire. After the Rapture, a man will step into the world scene to calm the chaos and lie about what really happened. He is the Antichrist. For 3.5 years, he will fix the economy, make the world prosper, bring "peace", and be admired. But after the 3.5 years, this man (Satan in the flesh) will force people to worship him and take his mark, or be killed...more specifically beheaded according to the book of Revelation. At the end of the 3.5 years, 7 years total, God's wrath will destroy Satan and those who follow Satan, forever in the Lake of Fire and they will never die, never escape, never have hope to escape, but be burned and tormented for an eternity...and that is End of this World. These events are prophesied in the Bible and will happen..just like the other prophesies happened! Many people didn't believe that Israel would become a nation again, until that day in 1948! Just as it was prophesied by Ezekiel and Jeremiah. WOW!!!!
So yes, be concerned, be very concerned. Believe what you want, but the "chatter" is not BS. It's a warning. God bless you!
Whenever I get too concerned, I lie down until the feeling goes away
He will also spare the Jews.
it is so amusing that every individual sect of the various abrahamic faiths (the many different versions of christianity, judiaism, islam) all think THEY will be the "chosen ones" at the mythical "end times".
amazing how convenient it is that THEY are always part of that group, isn't it?
hey letsgo, if there is going to be any group of "chosen ones" it is almost certainly going to be the Amish, the only ones that got the whole "do not kill" and "forgiveness" things right. most "born agains" are bloodthirsty as hell and determined to control everyone elses life
enough religion, i don't go bothering religion threads with science, and the amazing contradictions in their books, why do the religious insist on spewing their gobbledygook on science threads?
letsgo, the real "end times" will be ten to the 100th power years from now when the last black hole evaporates into a dark, endless blackness forever
Sorry, Dan, I don't think my message was coming through. The Christians always think they are the only ones getting "saved" or "sent to heaven". They also spout how the Bible is all true. They tend to forget the part in the Bible that says the Jews, or Israelites, are "God's chosen people".
They pick and choose what is important.
#14.4
Yes so like you do, letting out the part "" and your house has been abandoned to you, because of your hardheadedness " so much for Truth,Dignity and Honour, right ?
actually Tony, I got your message, my point was that even among the diverse group known as "Christians" the range and breadth of belief systems is actually pretty amazing. after all, you have Unitarians,Ccatholics,E evangelicals, Baptists, Mennonites, etc. etc. etc.
then when you throw in Jews and Muslims (who all have the same origin of faith....)
even among "Christians", you have everything ranging from snake-charming Baptists to laid-back Unitarians, to Evangelicals, to Catholics, and so on and so on...
Let's not forget the Jews and Muslims have many different sects as well.
OK, in a very short time, black holes went from being purely theoretical to being the center anchor of all of our galaxies.
So, why have I heard almost nothing about white holes? Since we have recently theorized dark matter and energy, has anyone thought that perhaps dark matter/energy is what comes out of a white hole? Dark matter/energy doesn't seem to be scattered evenly across the universe, but occurs in clumps. Could that clump be a white hole? If a black hole forms a worm hole, and crunches everything down to form dark matter/energy, perhaps that is what is coming out the white hole.
Dark matter/energy, to me, is one of the most fascinating of subjects. One of them relates to me being given a lecture by a well known physicist who thought he was hot poop about how it was VERY unlikely that further unknown forms of energy would be found. Unlikely to the point where he thought I was an idiot to even bring it up. Now who's the idiot, given that 95% of the universe is this new unknown stuff! Some scientists can be so arrogant. Kind of reminds me of a religious zealot and unfortunately the behavior is quite similar.
#15 -
Yes, and just imagine if " some " of that " Dark mater " and OR " Dark energy " is what some scfi called " The Ancient Aliens " what then :-)
Science,, what a jokers paradise,,The only black hole today is in the American peoples brains..To be led by idiots who spend millions on this garbage..100 degrees and counting In Minnesota..Let the fires of hell begin,,the skies will turn black, the sun turns to blood and the sea will run over it's banks, and after Obama Drama there will be fire from the skies, It's called NUKES in this next world war
Now is the Judgment of this corruption, perversion and selfish needs of mans ignorance. You will be calling them Masters yet they have stolen your inheritances and forefathers homes and property. For he has spoken of these examples, these plagues upon the earth. They call it Conspiracy of mad men, yet they have done nothing but deceive, corrupt and lie, even to each other. Their conspiracies are fact, their perversions shown more each day with instant media. We see no good news today, fires, death, wars, multiple murders, molestation of our moral standard by a sick political governments agenda. I seen a vision the day they wanted to take the crosses down, the bible from our schools, there are so many betraying this country, destroyers of anything good and clean. Governing systems that conforms to everything and anything, but what is good and clean. Which way have they taken this country, what truth do they speak today and surely they are destroying many lives in their path of destruction. As this branch of treasonous american s have today only bared rotten fruits. The vine will be plucked and burned, the branches tossed into the fires.. What father do you follow into battle and you also shall bare witness against the dead and buried. The hours of darkness are coming so glorify the sons and daughters of Satan with his own fire of hell. And I have declared all these things, I have told you that he is. If I have spoken of false evils, let them bare witness to what they see, feel and witness on a daily basis. Let them cut off my ears for that is all I hear today, cut out every mans voice because they only speak what is written in front of their faces. They have no power over me and death to me would be better than this Sodom that I see, I will not look back. Who of you have the greatest sin when one is not better and the worse is what we see today in all men, surely this government of the USA as they work daily to hide the truths of their lies and deceptions, their greedy selfish ways and women behold your sons and daughters for they will pay the ultimate prices in these Kings deceptions, their what they call others, Conspiracy mad men, they are nothing but in the truths not told.. I pray whom will you seek in this next CHANGE OF DICTATORS, WARMONGERS,, DECISIONS MADE FOR POLITICAL GAINS, NO MATTER WHO THEY KILL OR DESTROY IN THEIR WAKE.. GO ABOMINATION-OBOMINATION,, I surely see that vision, that fact..
faking mental illness is a chicken-sh*t solution to the human condition
Now, can you re-state this in a grammatically correct format?
I'm guessing he never enjoyed those trips to the planetarium...
oh chuckieeee, time to take your medicine now....
let the nice men in the white coats help you into your bed and put the straps on so you don't hurt yourself.
Science is so freaking cool - too bad some environmentalist wackos and global warming, er, "climate change" nutjobs are trying to bastardize it for political purposes...
What a load 'o baloney !
The new James Webb telescope that is replacing the Hubble will be a great way to witness and research this event when it is launched in 2014.
I'm sorry to report, nwtmike, that the Webb is now working towards launching in 2018, not 2014.
Given that the original launch date was 2007, and has been slipping (free falling?) continuously since then, I would not put a great deal of confidence in that date, either.
The other real pisser is the Webb's cost. Originally budgeted to completed for $500 million USD, the current best guess is $8.7 BILLION; a cost overrun of 1700%!
I liken the damage that the Webb has done to NASA's budget to be "a weapon of mass construction." Many much-better run programs have been cancelled to pay for the Webb's mistakes.
Now don't get me wrong - I'll be just as happy as the next astronomer to see Webb's images, if and when it finally gets the hell off the construction line and into space. But ye gods, it's been like giving birth to to record-setting pumpkin. (GIVE ME THE DAMNED EPIDURAL NOW!)
Gladly gives the epidural to Mike as he demanded NOW!!!