Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Black Hole, oh my!!



Near Centaurus!!
Propelled by jets from the central black hole of nearby galaxy Centaurus A, a rough ring of particles smashes into gas clouds, creating a purplish haze—at least in this false-color image. The particles are traveling at about half the speed of light and are visible as much as 13,000 light-years from the galactic center.
Via National Geographic News

4 comments:

Plum Pudding said...

Maxx' comet must be in there too!

Anonymous said...

That is a cool shot. This is one I have never seen with the backyard' scope. I'll have to give it a try sometime.

Backyard Astronomer

Anonymous said...

If us humans were very, very good in life,
( always caring for children, cats, dogs, old people etc.) could we go to Maxx's Comet when we die?

Then we could go see these wonders in the heavens up close. A much better eternity, surrounded by furry critters and friends, than anything envisioned by the nasty Christianists.

Anonymous said...

From what I am able to gather Maxx's comet is in a constellation that covers the south celestial pole. So Maxx's comet is a bit south of Centaurus A. The comet's current brightness is about magnitude 20 (extremely dim) but still within the reach large scopes.

Backyard Astronomer