Monster black holes in the early universe could have formed deep within giant star-like objects. The most detailed models yet of this scenario could help explain how black holes with a mass of a billion or more suns were created in the first billion years of the universe.
Models developed in 2006 by Mitchell Begelman of the University of Colorado in Boulder suggested that when a massive gas cloud collapses under gravity, it could form a small black hole at its core, giving rise to an object called a quasi-star. The black hole could quickly grow to 1000 times the sun's mass by feeding on the gas shrouding it, until steady growth would eventually turn it into a supermassive black hole. Warrick Ball of the University of Cambridge and colleagues have corroborated Begelman's original findings.
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is in final count down to the final launch of the space shuttle Discovery this Thursday. The 11-day mission will deliver Robonaut, a humanoid robot, to the International Space Station, along with a new storage module.
Discovery was originally set to lift off in November, but fuel tank cracks postponed the mission. NASA has installed fixes and will be closely monitoring the tank for new problems in the run-up to lift-off.
This will be the 39th launch for Discovery, which has ventured into space more than any other shuttle. Discovery's retirement marks the beginning of the shuttle programme's final year.
Famed Warner Bros animator, producer, director, and puppeteer, Bob Clampett, best known for his work on the Looney Tunes, directed an astonishing group of cartoons at Warner Bros, during the short period between 1942 and 1946. Many of them rank among the greatest and most unique cartoons ever made, including "Russian Rhapsody" (1944), with its savage portrait of Hitler that is both "hilarious and creepy. There's a disturbing quality about this cartoon that makes it quite unique and fascinating to watch.
Monster black holes in the early universe could have formed deep within giant star-like objects. The most detailed models yet of this scenario could help explain how black holes with a mass of a billion or more suns were created in the first billion years of the universe.
Models developed in 2006 by Mitchell Begelman of the University of Colorado in Boulder suggested that when a massive gas cloud collapses under gravity, it could form a small black hole at its core, giving rise to an object called a quasi-star. The black hole could quickly grow to 1000 times the sun's mass by feeding on the gas shrouding it, until steady growth would eventually turn it into a supermassive black hole. Warrick Ball of the University of Cambridge and colleagues have corroborated Begelman's original findings.
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is in final count down to the final launch of the space shuttle Discovery this Thursday. The 11-day mission will deliver Robonaut, a humanoid robot, to the International Space Station, along with a new storage module.
Discovery was originally set to lift off in November, but fuel tank cracks postponed the mission. NASA has installed fixes and will be closely monitoring the tank for new problems in the run-up to lift-off.
This will be the 39th launch for Discovery, which has ventured into space more than any other shuttle. Discovery's retirement marks the beginning of the shuttle programme's final year.
Famed Warner Bros animator, producer, director, and puppeteer, Bob Clampett, best known for his work on the Looney Tunes, directed an astonishing group of cartoons at Warner Bros, during the short period between 1942 and 1946. Many of them rank among the greatest and most unique cartoons ever made, including "Russian Rhapsody" (1944), with its savage portrait of Hitler that is both "hilarious and creepy. There's a disturbing quality about this cartoon that makes it quite unique and fascinating to watch.
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