Galactic Views (50)

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SPACE WATCH

Hubble Sees a Vapor of Stars
NASA – Relatively few galaxies possess the sweeping, luminous spiral arms or brightly glowing center of our home galaxy the Milky Way. In fact, most galaxies look like small, amorphous clouds of vapor. One of these galaxies is DDO 82, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Though tiny compared to the Milky Way, such dwarf galaxies may contain between a few million and a few billion stars.

DDO 82, also known by the designation UGC 5692, is not without a hint of structure, however. Astronomers classify it as an “Sm galaxy,” or Magellanic spiral galaxy, named after the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that orbits the Milky Way. That galaxy, like DDO 82, is said to have one spiral arm.

DDO 82 can be found in the constellation of Ursa Major (the Great Bear) approximately 13 million light-years away. The object is considered part of the M81 Group of around three dozen galaxies. DDO 82 gets its name from its entry number in the David Dunlap Observatory Catalogue. Canadian astronomer Sidney van den Bergh originally compiled this list of dwarf galaxies in 1959.

The image is made up of exposures taken in visible and infrared light by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. Image Credit: ESA/NASA

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Experts eat crow after high court health ruling

Roberts is sworn in as Chief Justice by Justice John Paul Stevens in the East Room of the White House, September 29, 2005. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By Sam Baker – Even lawmakers and legal experts who correctly predicted that the court would uphold the mandate were surprised by the details of the decision and the makeup of the court’s majority. Some lawyers who worked on the case were surprised at their victories on certain points.

“I’m still surprised at how we got here. I’m sure President Obama is surprised at how we got here,” said Alberto Gonzales, who served as attorney general under President George W. Bush and helped vet Chief Justice John Roberts during the nomination process.

Roberts and the court’s liberal justices said the individual mandate is constitutional because it functions as a tax — an argument that hadn’t gotten any traction until Thursday (June 28). more> http://tinyurl.com/7qp5xxv

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Health Care, the Euro Crisis, and Entitlement Slavery

The Redistribution of Wealth
(Photo credit: elycefeliz)

By Ralph Peters – Too many Americans fail to connect the massive attempt at wealth transfer (and wealth destruction) behind Obamacare to the wild irresponsibility of southern Europe’s socialist government models that have led multiple states to practical, if not yet formal, bankruptcy.

In the German case, two traditions have resulted in one of the world’s soundest economies, despite soft-core socialism: The old, unfashionable, academically derided “Protestant Work Ethic,” and the worthy old Prussian admonition to live a life of Mehr sein als schein (“Live within your budget and don’t flash bling”).

Here at home, when you willfully contribute nothing to society throughout your lifetime, while using food stamps to buy chips, candy, soda and frozen dinners, and then bill the government for your self-inflicted health problems while couch-surfing through a “life of poverty” that includes a cell phone and a flat-screen television, plenty of human beings content to be narcotized into slavery. more> http://tinyurl.com/7s4rhdu

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Airbus-Boeing battle for the American sky escalates

By Cyrus Sanati – EADS, the parent company of jet maker Airbus, has upped the ante in its long-running blood feud with Boeing, setting the stage for a messy battle between the two aerospace giants. According to a person with knowledge of the matter, the European conglomerate is set to announce the construction of a new manufacturing facility for its Airbus aircraft in the heart of Dixie — Mobile, Alabama. It would be Airbus’s first manufacturing plant in the western hemisphere, threatening Boeing’s grip over the US jet market. more> http://tinyurl.com/889yv32

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South Carolina passes bill against municipal broadband

By Cyrus Farivar – South Carolina has become the latest state in the union to pass a state-level bill that effectively makes it difficult, if not impossible, for municipalities to create their own publicly owned Internet service provider that could compete with private corporations. The bill passed the South Carolina General Assembly and Senate on Wednesday (June 27) and awaits the signature of the state’s governor.

“It’s not an absolute ban, but it makes it pretty tough,” Matt Wood, policy director at Free Press, a digital advocacy group, told Ars on Thursday. more> http://tinyurl.com/7a5zq5n

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