Galactic Views (46)

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SPACE WATCH

Giant Black Hole Kicked Out of Home Galaxy

NASA – Astronomers have found strong evidence that a massive black hole is being ejected from its host galaxy at a speed of several million miles per hour. New observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory suggest that the black hole collided and merged with another black hole and received a powerful recoil kick from gravitational wave radiation.

“It’s hard to believe that a supermassive black hole weighing millions of times the mass of the sun could be moved at all, let alone kicked out of a galaxy at enormous speed,” said Francesca Civano of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), who led the new study. “But these new data support the idea that gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of space first predicted by Albert Einstein but never detected directly — can exert an extremely powerful force.”

Although the ejection of a supermassive black hole from a galaxy by recoil because more gravitational waves are being emitted in one direction than another is likely to be rare, it nevertheless could mean that there are many giant black holes roaming undetected out in the vast spaces between galaxies.

“These black holes would be invisible to us,” said co-author Laura Blecha, also of CfA, “because they have consumed all of the gas surrounding them after being thrown out of their home galaxy.”

Civano and her group have been studying a system known as CID-42, located in the middle of a galaxy about 4 billion light years away. They had previously spotted two distinct, compact sources of optical light in CID-42, using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

More optical data from the ground-based Magellan and Very Large Telescopes in Chile supplied a spectrum (that is, the distribution of optical light with energy) that suggested the two sources in CID-42 are moving apart at a speed of at least 3 million miles per hour. more> http://tinyurl.com/79gcxfj

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New map, new rules shake up California primaries

By Paul Kane – Primary voters in California on Tuesday began to remake the face of Congress as a redrawn electoral map and new balloting rules promised a significant overhaul of the state’s delegation, which accounts for about 12 percent of the House of Representatives.

Democrats think this could make Rep. Nancy Pelosi speaker of the House again. They contend that they could pick up five seats in California on their way to the 25 they need to retake the majority next year.

In California, Republicans say the changes, over the long term, have the potential to transform to GOP into a more competitive party, because the new map and the new voting system may force it to nominate centrist candidates who can appeal to the state’s burgeoning population of minority voters. more> http://tinyurl.com/7nghpd9

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Germany finalizing face-saving aid deal for Spain

By Annika Breidthardt and Andreas Rinke – While Berlin remains firm in its rejection of Spain’s calls for Europe‘s rescue funds to lend directly to its banks, the officials said that if Madrid put in a formal aid request, funds could flow without it submitting to the kind of strict reform program agreed for Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

Instead, Spain would only have to agree to new conditions tied to the reform of its banking sector. more> http://tinyurl.com/cbp35pt

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How I solved my broadband misery

Shropshire Star – Struggling with your broadband? Charles Denscombe reckons he has the perfect solution – bypass the providers, and plonk a giant satellite dish in the back garden.

Through his satellite internet technology which is available but not widely known about, Charles gets reliable download speeds of at least 6.5Mb per second, and up to 20Mb per second. And it is all his. The bandwidth is not shared or “contested” bandwidth, and therefore not compromised. more> http://tinyurl.com/d9m5wdg

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Hydrogen-powered Phantom Eye takes flight

By Randy Jackson – At 6:22 a.m. Pacific time the unmanned aircraft lifted off its launch cart and climbed to an altitude of 4,080 feet into the desert sky.

The autonomous aircraft, with its 150-foot wingspan and powered by energy efficient liquid hydrogen, completed its first take off and landing June 1. After touching down, the vehicle sustained some damage when the landing gear dug into the lakebed and broke.

“This day ushers in a new era of persistent Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) where an unmanned aircraft will remain on station for days at a time providing critical information and services,” said Darryl Davis, president, Boeing Phantom Works. “This flight puts Boeing on a path to accomplish another aerospace first — the capability of four days of unrefueled, autonomous flight.” more> [VIDEO 2:11/1:37] http://tinyurl.com/7k9omp3

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