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| Times - Science |
They're huge. They're voracious. They're blacker than a panther on a moonless night. They're black holes, the mind-bending, space-warping cosmic objects with gravity so insanely powerful that even a beam of light that wanders too close will be sucked in, never to emerge. Einstein's theory of general relativity predicted they might exist, but the great physicist himself doubted it would really happen.
Einstein was wrong.
...the two new black holes, each about 330 million light-years away or so, just announced in the journal Nature. The smaller one, located inside a galaxy known as NGC 3842, is as massive as 9.7 billion suns, and the other, in a galaxy called NGC 4889, is more than twice as large: if you put it on a very large balance, it would take at least 21 billion stars to even things out.
Einstein was wrong.
...the two new black holes, each about 330 million light-years away or so, just announced in the journal Nature. The smaller one, located inside a galaxy known as NGC 3842, is as massive as 9.7 billion suns, and the other, in a galaxy called NGC 4889, is more than twice as large: if you put it on a very large balance, it would take at least 21 billion stars to even things out.
Note: 1 solar mass = 1.98892 × 1030 kilograms, so 21 billion times THIS!
Times Science: The Blackest Black Hole: Scientists Find a Monster the Size of 21 Billion Suns
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| LA Times |
Bright and early Saturday morning, people in Asia and Australia and on the western coast of America will be treated to a total eclipse of the moon—the last one until 2014.
You'll have to wake up early to see it—NASA says a red shadow will start to fall across the moon at 4:45 a.m. PST. By 6:05 a.m. PST, the moon will be totally engulfed in red light.
Red?
Yes, red.
As Dr. Tony Phillips explains in a NASA release, the lunar eclipse will appear red, not black, because a delicate layer of dusty air surrounding our planet will redirect the light of the sun, filling the darkness behind Earth with a sunset-red glow.
You'll have to wake up early to see it—NASA says a red shadow will start to fall across the moon at 4:45 a.m. PST. By 6:05 a.m. PST, the moon will be totally engulfed in red light.
Red?
Yes, red.
As Dr. Tony Phillips explains in a NASA release, the lunar eclipse will appear red, not black, because a delicate layer of dusty air surrounding our planet will redirect the light of the sun, filling the darkness behind Earth with a sunset-red glow.
LA Times: Watch Saturday's total lunar eclipse on your computer
Note: Just be mindful of what time zone you're in: SLOOH.com
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