Hercules A

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Hercules AHercules A, also known as 3C 348, lies around two billion light-years away. It is one of the brightest sources of radio emission outside our Galaxy. It’s the bright object at the middle of the frame, an elliptical galaxy. As seen in visible light by the Hubble Space Telescope it appears floating serenely in the inky blackness of space, but adding data from a radio telescope radically transforms the image. Jets of material can be seen billowing outwards from the galaxy when viewed at radio frequencies—jets that are completely undetectable in visible light. The image above combines data from the Very Large Array radio observatory in New Mexico with data from Hubble‘s Wide Field Camera 3.

The two jets are composed of hot, high-energy plasma that has been flung from Hercules A by a supermassive black hole lurking at the galaxy’s core. This black hole is roughly 2.5 billion times the mass of the Sun. That’s about a thousand times more massive than the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.

Hercules A’s black hole accelerates the ejected material to nearly the speed of light, sending it flying out into intergalactic space. Eventually, the highly focused jets lose energy, slowing down and spreading out to form cloud-like blobs The multiple bright rings and knots seen within these blobs suggest that the black hole has sent out successive bursts of material. The jets stretch for around 1.5 million light-years, around 15 times the size of the Milky Way.

Image Credit: NASA / ESA / VLA

 

Team Kimberlin Post of the Day

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The Dreadful Pro-Se Schmalfeldt insists on making his opponent’s case.TheMerryWidower201511162292ZThe alleged email from Lynn Thomas attached to that tweet contains a no-contact request. At the very least, that tweet prevents the Cabin Boy™ from saying that he never received such a request from Mrs. Thomas.

However, it is more likely that the text of the email is a forgery. The style of writing is very much unlike Mrs. Thomas’s, but it is quite like the Cabin Boy’s™. Indeed, Mrs. Thomas would be unlikely to refer to herself as an “obviously ill woman,” and she would be unlikely to use the term DUMBFUCK, even to describe the Cabin Boy™. Moreover, the Cabin Boy™ has a track record of altering documents, and there appear to be technical inconsistencies between the text and header of the alleged email. Also, there is a piece of evidence external to the email that makes if extremely unlikely that Mrs. Thomas could be the author. It will be interesting to see how the Cabin Boy™ tries to talk his way out of the mess he’s created for himself.

If, as I believe, the alleged email is a forgery, the Cabin Boy will not enjoy the consequences.

UPDATE—A second forensic analysis of the images posted confirms the opinion that the text of the email is a forgery.

Yours Truly, Johnny Atsign

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Johnny Atsign Logo 2ANNOUNCER: From Westminster, it’s time for—

SOUND: Skype phone rings once.

JOHNNY: Johnny Atsign.

RULE 5 GIRL: (Telephone Filter) Good evening, Johnny.

JOHNNY: Hello! What’s up?

RULE 5 GIRL: (Telephone Filter) Have you been following The Grouch’s Twitter feed this weekend

JOHNNY: No, I went fishing. I just got back.

RULE 5 GIRL: (Telephone Filter) You need to take a look. He’s going nuts faildoxing people over The Zombie’s identity

JOHNNY: Will he ever give it a rest?

MUSIC: Theme up and under.

ANNOUNCER: The Lickspittle Broadcasting System presents W. J. J. Hoge in the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed Twitter account, America’s fabulous free-lance Internet investigator …

JOHNNY: Yours Truly, Johnny Atsign!

MUSIC: Theme up to music out. Continue reading →