Dark Force Rising

Perhaps the most annoying part of observational astronomy is bad weather. Unfortunately poor weather seems to be deeply ingrained in the Atlantic maritime provinces. So when it comes time to stand, sit, lay, or whatever yo find most comfortable beneath the nighttime sky, you might find yourself cold and rain/snowed upon. Even in space there lies the risk of bad weather. That tends to rescheduled shuttle landings, inaccurate GPS signals, and other such issues. Luckily there is SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) which is used to make predictions on weather in space. Unlike those rather unreliable weather forecasters on the local news, SOHO is pretty accurate. So even though the Katana fleet will never be seen again, at least our space travelers can rest peacefully knowing that in our part of the universe the "skies" are clear.

Tomorrow is Yesterday

On March 31 of last year, two NASA scientists (Nikolai Shaposhnikov and Lev Titarchuk) discovered what appears to be the smallest black hole on record. This "little guy" is only 15 miles in diameter and has a mass 3.8 times that of our sun--thus barely fitting the current minimum specifications for a black hole. Now what I find so interesting is that although this is just a wee little tear in spacetime, the punch it packs is more dangerous than larger black holes. Take for example the supermassive black hole in the centre of our galaxy. ( This newly discovered black hole is also located within the Milky Way in a region known as XTE J1650-500. Catchy, non?) It, like other supermassive black holes (which have masses varying between millions and billions of times that of our sun), does its job of keeping the galaxies a'movin with its grand amount of gravity. I am unclear as to the purpose this mini-black hole is--if it indeed has one at all. However my personal opinion is that this black hole,along with any others of that size, must in some way help maintain the balance of our galaxy. Unfortunately there is no possible way of testing that opinion.


So word of caution to intergalactic space travelers out there: beware of unforeseen small black holes. Failure to proceed with caution may result in transportation to 1969. Watch for Captain Kirk; he'll be waiting.