A Supermassive Black Hole Disguised by Sagittarius A

The Galactic Center is the rotational center of our home galaxy. It is located in the direction of the Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius Constellations where the Milky Way shines the most. It has been theorized that the Galactic Center is also home for a supermassive black hole.

Because interstellar dust conceal the Galactic Center, studies at visible, ultraviolet or soft X-ray wavelengths are impossible to conduct. However, observations at gamma ray, hard X-ray, infrared, sub-millimetre and radio wavelengths provide a substantial amount of information. The existence of the supermassive black hole has been confirmed using a VLT (Very Large Telescope) facility. Also accretion of gas onto a black hole would release enough energy to power up the intense compact radio source (Sagittarius A*), which is part of a larger astronomical radio source (Sagittarius A), and is located at the same location as the supermassive black hole.

Scientists were surprised to find out that the Galactic Center contains not only old red main-sequence stars, but also high amounts of massive stars. The birth of those stars was triggered a few millions years ago. This creates a “youth paradox” because the black hole tidal forces would prevent such a star formation event to take place. One explanation for this enigma is that the stars migrated near the Galactic Center after they formed in a remote location like a star cluster or a massive gas cloud near the black hole.

The Galactic Center is a quiet place for the next 200 million years when a star birth event will commence. Many stars will rush to supernovae states at higher rates (100x) than the current rate. The starburst may also be accompanied by the formation of galactic jets as matter falls into the central black hole. The Galactic Center of the Milky Way undergoes a starburst of this sort every 500 million years.

Distance from Earth: ~ 27000 light years.

Click below for full resolution picture of The Galactic Center

NATURE PICTURES & THE UNIVERSE

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NASA Photos Photography

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is the United States government agency responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. President Dwight D. Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958 with a distinctly civilian (rather than military) orientation encouraging peaceful applications in space science. The National Aeronautics and Space Act was passed on July 29, 1958, disestablishing NASA's predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency became operational on October 1, 1958.

UFO SIGHTINGS PHOTO PHOTOGRAPHY

The Oxford English Dictionary defines a UFO as "An unidentified flying object; a 'flying saucer'." The first published book to use the word was authored by Donald E. Keyhoe. The acronym "UFO" was coined by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, who headed Project Blue Book, then the USAF's official investigation of UFOs. He wrote, "Obviously the term 'flying saucer' is misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance. For this reason the military prefers the more general, if less colorful, name: unidentified flying objects. UFO (pronounced Yoo-foe) for short." Other phrases that were used officially and that predate the UFO acronym include "flying flapjack", "flying disc", "unexplained flying discs", "unidentifiable object", and "flying saucer". The phrase "flying saucer" had gained widespread attention after the summer of 1947. On June 24, a civilian pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine objects flying in formation near Mount Rainier. Arnold timed the sighting and estimated the speed of discs to be over 1,200 mph (1,931 km/h). At the time, he described the objects' shape as being somewhat disc-like or saucer-like, leading to newspaper accounts of "flying saucers" and "flying discs". In popular usage the term UFO came to be used to refer to claims of alien spacecraft. and because of the public and media ridicule associated with the topic, some investigators prefer to use such terms as unidentified aerial phenomenon (or UAP) or anomalous phenomena, as in the title of the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP).

UFO PHOTO PHOTOGRAPHY

UFO - Unidentified Flying Object An unidentified flying object, or UFO, in its most general definition, is any apparent anomaly in the sky that is not identifiable as a known object or phenomenon. Culturally, UFOs are associated with claims of visitation by extraterrestrial life or government-related conspiracy theories, and have become popular subjects in fiction. While UFOs are often later identified, sometimes identification may not be possible owing to the usually low quality of evidence related to UFO sightings (generally anecdotal evidence and eyewitness accounts). Stories of fantastical celestial apparitions have been told since antiquity, but the term "UFO" (or "UFOB") was officially created in 1953 by the United States Air Force (USAF) to serve as a catch-all for all such reports. In its initial definition, the USAF stated that a "UFOB" was "any airborne object which by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object." Accordingly, the term was initially restricted to that fraction of cases which remained unidentified after investigation, as the USAF was interested in potential national security reasons and/or "technical aspects" (see Air Force Regulation 200-2). During the late 1940s and through the 1950s, UFOs were often referred to popularly as "flying saucers" or "flying discs". The term UFO became more widespread during the 1950s, at first in technical literature, but later in popular use. UFOs garnered considerable interest during the Cold War, an era associated with a heightened concern for national security. Various studies have concluded that the phenomenon does not represent a threat to national security nor does it contain anything worthy of scientific pursuit (e.g., 1951 Flying Saucer Working Party, 1953 CIA Robertson Panel, USAF Project Blue Book, Condon Committee).

Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Photos of Nature | Nature Photography What is The Universe

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Hidden Secrets in The Galactic Center of The Milky Way

A Supermassive Black Hole Disguised by Sagittarius A

Click below for full resolution picture of The Galactic Center

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