WASHINGTON (AP) -- The latest act of senseless violence caught on tape is cosmic in scope: A black hole in a "death star galaxy" blasting a neighboring galaxy with a deadly jet of radiation and energy.
A fleet of space and ground telescopes have captured images of this cosmic violence, which people have never witnessed before, according to a new study released Monday by NASA.
"It's like a bully, a black-hole bully punching the nose of a passing galaxy," said astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, who wasn't involved in the research.
But ultimately, this could be a deadly punch.
The telescope images show the bully galaxy shooting a stream of deadly radiation particles into the lower section of the other galaxy, which is about one-tenth its size. Both are about 8.2 billion trillion miles from here, orbiting around each other.
The larger galaxy has a multi-digit name but is called the "death star galaxy" by one of the researchers who discovered the galactic bullying, Daniel Evans of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Tens of millions of stars, including those with orbiting planets, are likely in the path of the deadly jet, said study co-author Martin Hardcastle of the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.
If Earth were in the way -- and it's not -- the high-energy particles and radiation of the jet would in a matter of months strip away the planet's protective ozone layer and compress the protective magnetosphere, said Evans. That would then allow the sun and the jet itself to bombard the planet with high-energy particles.
And what would that do life on the planet?
"Decompose it," Tyson said.
"Sterilize it," Evans piped in.
The jet attack is relatively new, in deep space time. Hardcastle estimates it's no more than 1 million years old and can stretch on for another 10 to 100 million years.
"A truly extraordinary act of violence," Evans said. "The jet violently slams into that lower half of the neighboring galaxy after which the jet dramatically twists and bends."
The good news is that eventually an area of hot gas that gets hit and compressed by this mysterious jet -- astronomers are still baffled by what's in it and how it works -- over millions and billions of years can form stars, Tyson said.
NASA, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in United States and the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom used ground optical and radio telescopes, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope to get an image of the violence on various wavelengths, including invisible ones. The results will be published in The Astrophysical Journal next year.
The two galaxies are only 24,000 light-years apart and are in a slow merging process. The jet has already traveled 1 million light-years. A light-year is about 5.88 trillion miles.
Tyson said there are two main lessons to be learned from what the telescopes have found:
"This is a reminder that you are not alone in the universe. You are not isolated. You are not an island."
And "avoid black holes when you can."
A fleet of space and ground telescopes have captured images of this cosmic violence, which people have never witnessed before, according to a new study released Monday by NASA.
"It's like a bully, a black-hole bully punching the nose of a passing galaxy," said astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, who wasn't involved in the research.
But ultimately, this could be a deadly punch.
The telescope images show the bully galaxy shooting a stream of deadly radiation particles into the lower section of the other galaxy, which is about one-tenth its size. Both are about 8.2 billion trillion miles from here, orbiting around each other.
The larger galaxy has a multi-digit name but is called the "death star galaxy" by one of the researchers who discovered the galactic bullying, Daniel Evans of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Tens of millions of stars, including those with orbiting planets, are likely in the path of the deadly jet, said study co-author Martin Hardcastle of the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.
If Earth were in the way -- and it's not -- the high-energy particles and radiation of the jet would in a matter of months strip away the planet's protective ozone layer and compress the protective magnetosphere, said Evans. That would then allow the sun and the jet itself to bombard the planet with high-energy particles.
And what would that do life on the planet?
"Decompose it," Tyson said.
"Sterilize it," Evans piped in.
The jet attack is relatively new, in deep space time. Hardcastle estimates it's no more than 1 million years old and can stretch on for another 10 to 100 million years.
"A truly extraordinary act of violence," Evans said. "The jet violently slams into that lower half of the neighboring galaxy after which the jet dramatically twists and bends."
The good news is that eventually an area of hot gas that gets hit and compressed by this mysterious jet -- astronomers are still baffled by what's in it and how it works -- over millions and billions of years can form stars, Tyson said.
NASA, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in United States and the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom used ground optical and radio telescopes, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope to get an image of the violence on various wavelengths, including invisible ones. The results will be published in The Astrophysical Journal next year.
The two galaxies are only 24,000 light-years apart and are in a slow merging process. The jet has already traveled 1 million light-years. A light-year is about 5.88 trillion miles.
Tyson said there are two main lessons to be learned from what the telescopes have found:
"This is a reminder that you are not alone in the universe. You are not isolated. You are not an island."
And "avoid black holes when you can."
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I realize that it's the holiday season and one should be focusing on the positive aspects of giving and loving and brotherhood and all that best of human nature "stuff" ....but then I encountered this story and realized that REALITY CHECKS are abundant.
The advice to "avoid black holes when you can," should be relayed to those geniuses who are building the machine at the CERN facility underground in Europe. The machine supposedly will be the largest super-collider in the world and could possibly create a mini-black hole.
"AVOID BLACK HOLES WHEN YOU CAN"
It seems that certain people on this planet are messing with reality that could literally result in a story like the one above....but reporting on a mini-black hole, that starts to suck in all light and all matter, would represent a problem.
Read the story once again and try to visualize the size of the event.
The last time I looked the Earth was considerably smaller than the galaxies in question and a mini-black hole would not have to be very large to start sucking.
I seriously would love to get Mike Huckabee's take on this event.
Actually I'd love to know any of the "players" opinion on the CERN...and BLACK HOLES.
I realize that they are quite busy in Iowa and New Hampshire trying to convince people that their beliefs and their plans are in the best interest of America.
BUT...there are things happening in the Universe that are not only humbling but are extreme REALITY CHECKS, and it would be interesting to know that someone in the political realm actually thought about this kind of "stuff."
Let's assume each has a viewpoint and let's imagine that we get to hear it...
HILLARY.......Black holes are dangerous....I know this because my husband has encountered some....
BARACK.........Black holes are a part of life, and everybody needs to accept them.
And actually they are quite beautiful.
JOE................I served as Chairperson on a Black Hole Committee. It was fun.
Mitt................Ten years ago I thought Black Holes were dangerous, now I think that they are a figment of people's imagination because there is nothing in the BOOK about them.
Mike...............seriously, you've got to be kidding....how the hell can a telescope see something 10 billion trillion light years away? That would mean the Universe was created a really long long long time ago....and we know that's not true.....hand me my guitar.
John Edwards.....Black holes are creating poverty but I don't know why.
John McCain.......I actually was around when the first Black Hole was seen.
Rudy...................Bring on those son's of bitches!
Fred....................You mean...you really care what I think?
Dennis................I tried to warn everybody, but all that kept asking about was my wife.
Oprah................no Black Hole is going to prevent me from creating a new
Universe.....unless of course it pays to advertise.
AL GORE.............I can tell you one thing....Global Warming will not be a problem if we create a Black Hole....which I guess is one method of solving all the problems.
Read the story again and once more try to visualize the distance and the size of the event. Now think about your personal situation, whether it be wonderful or not so wonderful.
THERE IS A REALITY CHECK....and that check is simply.....
everything can change...and it can change rather quickly
If things are not going so well......it can improve
If things are going well..........enjoy and share that joy with others
If you have no idea how things are going, I doubt very much that you read this article....but you might have stumbled upon this site and my only suggestion is....go back to sleep....and try not to dream of Black Holes...
Just try........
Michael Timothy McAlevey
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