Archives
August 2007
8/31/07
8/31/07
8/30/07
8/30/07
8/30/07
8/29/07
8/29/07
8/29/07
8/29/07
8/28/07
8/28/07
8/28/07
8/28/07
8/27/07
8/27/07
8/27/07
8/27/07
8/26/07
8/26/07
8/25/07
8/24/07
8/24/07
8/24/07
8/24/07
8/23/07
8/23/07
8/23/07
8/23/07
8/22/07
8/22/07
8/22/07
8/22/07
8/21/07
8/21/07
8/21/07
8/21/07
8/20/07
8/20/07
8/20/07
8/20/07
8/19/07
8/18/07
8/17/07
8/17/07
8/17/07
8/17/07
8/16/07
8/16/07
8/16/07
8/16/07
8/15/07
8/15/07
8/15/07
8/15/07
8/14/07
8/14/07
8/14/07
8/13/07
8/13/07
8/13/07
8/13/07
8/12/07
8/12/07
8/11/07
8/10/07
8/10/07
8/10/07
8/9/07
8/9/07
8/9/07
8/8/07
8/8/07
8/8/07
8/7/07
The Ultimate in Pileups
8/7/07
8/7/07
8/6/07
8/6/07
8/6/07
8/6/07
8/5/07
8/4/07
8/3/07
8/3/07
8/3/07
8/2/07
8/2/07
8/2/07
8/2/07
8/1/07
8/1/07
8/1/07
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
9:26:00 AM EDT
Hearing Nothing at the moment
Now, here's a four-body fender bender that's literally on a galactic scale:
A major cosmic pileup involving four large galaxies could give rise to one of the largest galaxies the universe has ever known, scientists say.
Each of the four galaxies is at least the size of the Milky Way, and each is home to billions of stars.
The galaxies will eventually merge into a single, colossal galaxy up to 10 times as massive as our own Milky Way.
"When this merger is complete, this will be one of the biggest galaxies in the universe," said study team member Kenneth Rines of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Don't get too smug and say that they galaxies should have watched where they were going, because as it happens, our own galaxy is fated to have a collision of its own with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, several billion years from now (buckle up!).
These pileups destroy the galaxies themselves, but the individual stars in the galaxies usually survive; even during collisions like this, there's a huge amount of space between the stars. It would be like you running directly into a friend, and instead of smacking heads, having all of your cells slide past each other to form a new, rather large, human being. yes, it's wacky when you think about it that way. Welcome to our universe.
Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
9:26:00 AM EDT
Hearing Nothing at the moment
The Ultimate in Pileups
Now, here's a four-body fender bender that's literally on a galactic scale:
A major cosmic pileup involving four large galaxies could give rise to one of the largest galaxies the universe has ever known, scientists say.
Each of the four galaxies is at least the size of the Milky Way, and each is home to billions of stars.
The galaxies will eventually merge into a single, colossal galaxy up to 10 times as massive as our own Milky Way.
"When this merger is complete, this will be one of the biggest galaxies in the universe," said study team member Kenneth Rines of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Don't get too smug and say that they galaxies should have watched where they were going, because as it happens, our own galaxy is fated to have a collision of its own with the neighboring Andromeda galaxy, several billion years from now (buckle up!).
These pileups destroy the galaxies themselves, but the individual stars in the galaxies usually survive; even during collisions like this, there's a huge amount of space between the stars. It would be like you running directly into a friend, and instead of smacking heads, having all of your cells slide past each other to form a new, rather large, human being. yes, it's wacky when you think about it that way. Welcome to our universe.
Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | digg this
This entry has 3 comments: (Add your own)
-
Dear John,
Hey beautiful photo! ........uh.....
.I thought Dan would ahve commented on the "leftover food" entry ! chuckle...
Thanks ever so much John! This is a very interesting entry!
cheers!
natalie -
Sweet! A trick shot. I'll take that galaxy of the red one, and in the corner black hole it goes.
-Dan
http://thewisdomofadistractedmind.blogspot.com/
9/2/07 2:23 PM