Galactus farted.

Sabrilocke · 06-16-2006, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Astronomers have identified a massive comet-like structure - spanning a whopping three million light years - that is tearing through a distant galaxy cluster at more than 750 kilometres a second.

Yes, you read that right. A great ball of fiery gas*, some five thousand million times the size of the solar system. Fortunately, it isn't anywhere near Earth. The flaming gas-ball is in the Abell 3266 galaxy cluster, even more millions of light years away from us than it is across.

The fireball, which is the largest object of this kind ever identified, was spotted by stargazers using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton X-Ray telescope.

The researchers have produced an entropy map of the gas-ball, which allows them to pick out the relatively cold dense gas of the comet from the hotter gas of the galaxy cluster. Analysis of the data has revealed remarkable detail of the stripping of gas from the comet's core, ESA says, at a rate of about a Sun's mass, every hour.

The scientists who discovered the object describe it as "truly fantastic".
"In Abell 3266 we are seeing structure formation in action," said Professor Mark Henriksen, co-author of the results. "Dark matter is the gravitational glue holding the gas ball together. But as it races through the galaxy cluster, a tug-of-war ensues where the galaxy cluster eventually wins, stripping off and dispersing gas that perhaps one day will seed star and galaxy growth within the cluster."

Zurich-based researcher Dr. Francesco Miniati commented: "What interests astronomers is not just the size of the gas ball but the role it plays in the formation and evolution of structure in the universe."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/06...balls_of_fire/

This thing is HUEG. But it's probably already gone or diminished in size. Light from so far would take ages to reach us. We need the Asgard.

DELICIOUS POISON · 06-16-2006, 10:30 PM

Yikes. That's an amazing discovery. Someone should start a cult to worship it.

**Cravdraa** · 06-16-2006, 11:09 PM

It would have been better if the person that wrote this article had a clue what they were talking about. There are more problems than I care to list off. Still, it's interesting.

06-16-2006, 11:09 PM	#3
Cravdraa VGF RPG Mod Join Date: May 2001 Location: It's round on the sides and high in the middle Gender: Posts: 5,895 Thanks: 54 Thanked 207 Times in 139 Posts Points: 28,384.96 Bank: 1,403,771.19 Total Points: 1,432,156.16 Donate	It would have been better if the person that wrote this article had a clue what they were talking about. There are more problems than I care to list off. Still, it's interesting. Last edited by Cravdraa; 06-16-2006 at 11:20 PM.

06-16-2006, 10:30 PM	#2
DELICIOUS POISON Retro Nintendo Supermod Art & Literature Mod Metroid Mod Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: I rub my tilde all over your asterisk Gender: Posts: 16,601 Thanks: 556 Thanked 1,602 Times in 792 Posts Points: 7,922.84 Bank: 3,602,510.30 Total Points: 3,610,433.14 Donate	Yikes. That's an amazing discovery. Someone should start a cult to worship it.