Massive Nearby Spiral Galaxy NGC 2841 By Roberto Colombari

Stars and Dust Pillars in NGC 7822 from WISE.

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A Black Hole is an extraordinarily massive, improbably dense knot of spacetime that makes a living swallowing or slinging away any morsel of energy that strays too close to its dark, twisted core. Anyone fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to directly observe one of these beasts in the wild would immediately notice the way its colossal gravitational field warps all of the light from the stars and galaxies behind it, a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing.

Thanks to the power of supercomputers, a curious observer no longer has to venture into outer space to see such a sight. A team of astronomers has released their first simulated images of the lensing effects of not just one, but two black holes, trapped in orbit by each other’s gravity and ultimately doomed to merge as one.

http://www.universetoday.com/116500/new-simulation-offers-stunning-images-of-black-hole-merger/?

2016 Mercury Transit, as seen by NASA’s SDO in 171 Angstroms.

Station Concept, NASA (1969)

SEMPER PARATUS ALWAYS READY The Coast Guard Marching Song (sheet music)

Mercury passing the sun May 9th 2016

On Monday, May 9, the planet Mercury wandered directly in front of the sun, a rare “transit” that only happens about 12 times a century.

The Art Of Deep Space

NASA’s laser propulsion system could send ships to Mars in just days

It might sound like science fiction, but we already know how to make objects move at near light speed. Physicists do it all the time inside particle accelerators, where they accelerate particles to relativistic speeds just a small fraction below the speed of light (about 186,000 miles per second).

But when we try to reach these speeds on a macro scale, we run into all kinds of problems. Now researchers are saying a new kind of laser-based propulsion would eliminate the need for fuel and could accelerate spacecraft up to 26% of the speed of light. At that blistering pace, a tiny space probe could get to Mars in just 30 minutes. The technology to make it happen already exists.

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