chandra

Colliding black holes may prove more interesting to scientists than the immovable object versus the unstoppable force. New data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has combined with optical images from Hubble to show off a merging black hole pair in all its glory.

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130 years ago, astronomers discovered Stephan's Quintent--a compact group of galaxies 280 million light years from Earth. NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has captured the X-rays generated by the interstellar collision, as one of the galaxies is sucked through the center of the group at 2 million miles per hour.

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After much anticipation, Microsoft Research today released a new, free online tool designed to open up the world of astronomy to the masses. Microsoft describes the WorldWide Telescope as a "Web 2.0 Visualization Software Environment" - but don't worry, the tool is easier to use than it is to define.

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It packs 4 million times more material than our sun, but relative to the black holes sitting at the center of some neighboring galaxies, it actually doesn't do all that much. The fact that this black hole, known as Sagittarius A*, kicks out billions of times less energy than others of its kind has made it something of a mystery. But now a team of scientists at Kyoto University suggests that Sagittarius A* may be resting after a far more active period a few centuries ago.

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