Massive Gas Cloud Speeding Toward Collision With Milky Way

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GBT image of Smiths Cloud which is headed toward a collision with the Milky Way. Cedit: Bill Saxton NRAOAUINSF
GBT image of Smith's Cloud, which is headed toward a collision with the Milky Way. Cedit: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF

A giant cloud of hydrogen gas is speeding toward a collision with our Milky Way Galaxy, and when it hits -- in less than 40 million years -- it may set off a spectacular burst of stellar fireworks.


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All News summaries for January 11, 2008

Arctic 'holds 90bln barrels of oil, mostly offshore'

20 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
Within the Arctic circle there are 90 billion barrels of oil and vast quantities of natural gas waiting to be tapped, most of it offshore, the government-run US Geological Survey said.

Russian scientists begin trial exploration of world's deepest lake

21 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
Russian scientists leading a submarine expedition to probe the world's deepest lake on Thursday carried out test dives ahead of the start of the operation next week, reports said.

Scientists solve 30-year-old aurora borealis mystery

23 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
UCLA space scientists and colleagues have identified the mechanism that triggers substorms in space; wreaks havoc on satellites, power grids and communications systems; and leads to the explosive release of energy that causes ...

The Quiet Explosion: Object intermediate between normal supernovae and gamma-ray bursts found

30 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
A European-led team of astronomers are providing hints that a recent supernova may not be as normal as initially thought. Instead, the star that exploded is now understood to have collapsed into a black hole, producing a ...

Scientists break record by finding northernmost hydrothermal vent field

36 minutes ago | User rating: not rated yet
Well inside the Arctic Circle, scientists have found black smoker vents farther north than anyone has ever seen before. The cluster of five vents – one towering nearly four stories in height – are venting ...
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