Black Hole

A NASA image released Friday shows a glimpse of a galaxy with an active black hole, the focus of a recent discovery much of which was made in Baltimore. The space agency's image of the day gallery shows an active black hole squelching star formation in  galaxy Arp 220. The picture uses images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and with an artist's impression of jets of gas emanating from the core of the galaxy. Research announced May 1 revealed that astronomers at Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute observed just such a black hole.

A NASA image released Friday shows a glimpse of a galaxy with an active black hole, the focus of a recent discovery much of which was made in Baltimore. The space agency's image of the day gallery shows an active black hole squelching star formation in  galaxy Arp 220. The picture uses images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and with an artist's impression of jets of gas emanating from the core of the galaxy. Research announced May 1 revealed that astronomers at Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute observed just such a black hole.

It's rare to witness the entirety of a murder. But that's how some local scientists investigated exactly what happened during a fatal attack in 2010. The victim? A star — a massive red giant — 2.7 million light-years away that had lost its outer layers in previous brushes with its attacker. The perpetrator was a massive black hole that swallowed the star and spewed its guts out into space over the course of a year. A team led by a Johns Hopkins University researcher conducted the probe, and astronomers say its findings could lead to discoveries that shed new light on the central role black holes may play in the growth of galaxies.

WEATHER Today's forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies, high temperature near 85 degrees, and a 50 percent chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms throughout the day. Thursday night is expected to bring increasing clouds, with a low around 65 degrees. TRAFFIC Check our traffic updates for this morning's issues as you plan your commute. FROM LAST NIGHT... Arguments in Werdesheim trial conclude : Baltimore Circuit Judge Pamela J. White has heard a week of arguments in the bench trial of Eliyahu Werdesheim, 24, and his brother, Avi Werdesheim, 22. After the prosecutor and defense attorneys completed their closing statements Wednesday afternoon, White told them that she expects to issue her verdict at 3 p.m. Thursday.

An article in last Thursday's Sun on discovery of a super-massive black hole in the galaxy M87 included an incorrect comparison. The speed measurements of gases in M87 were taken at a distance of 60 light years from the galaxy's center. That is equivalent to 15 times the distance from Earth to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri.The Sun regrets the error.WASHINGTON -- Astronomers peering through the Hubble Space Telescope at the core of a giant galaxy 50 million light years from Earth say they have found the first conclusive evidence of the existence of a super-massive "black hole" -- an object with gravity so powerful that it traps everything that comes near, even light.

IN DESCRIBING the mental state of Susan Smith, spokesman Hugh Munn of the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said: "Her whole world was collapsing around her. She was staring into a black hole."Given the horror of Ms. Smith's murder of her two sons, Mr. Munn intended no irony or pun. But his words aptly described the collective pathology of Ms. Smith and white America. As her world collapsed, she reached into the black hole and pulled out a black man. A carjacker took my kids! Presto!

The discovery of a "black hole" in space, 13 billion light-years away, has astronomers pretty excited. Previously, only mathematicians and astrophysicists could see black holes in their theoretical formulas.What's implied by this discovery is a chance to test the theories against hard, observable facts. For instance, note the definition scientists like to give of "black holes": rips in the fabric of space-time. Sounds great, until you fasten on the concept of a "rip." Einstein proved that space and time were part of the same thing early in this century.

The torch had been passed, the old had given way to the young. But before he left the court Wednesday night to celebrate the elimination of the Boston Celtics with his Charlotte Hornets teammates, Alonzo Mourning showed a touch of class. He paused to pay tribute at a moment tribute was due, the last game of an all-timer.He hugged Kevin McHale.Speaking of McHale and the other venerable Celtic, Robert Parish, Mourning said, "With all they've accomplished, all they've done for the league, it was an honor just to be on the floor with them."

WASHINGTON -- Astronomers surveying a small group of bright, nearby galaxies with the Hubble Space Telescope said yesterday they have struck intergalactic pay dirt: the best snapshot yet of huge clouds of dust and gas that may be spiraling into a black hole.And if NASA's 1993 Space Shuttle mission to repair the Hubble succeeds, astronomers plan to hunt inside the Frisbee-shaped cloud for what could be the first direct evidence that black holes exist."We haven't seen a black hole itself," cautioned Dr. Walter J. Jaffe, an American astronomer at the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands, who led the observation.

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope say they have made a significant advance toward confirming the existence of black holes -- massively heavy, super-condensed galactic centers that are so strong that even light cannot travel fast enough to escape their pull.The Hubble findings, announced in Washington yesterday, also show that black holes may be more common than was formerly believed.A black hole, by its very nature, cannot be seen. But the Hubble images show that stars in a nearby galaxy, M32, become extremely concentrated toward the center.

It's rare to witness the entirety of a murder. But that's how some local scientists investigated exactly what happened during a fatal attack in 2010. The victim? A star — a massive red giant — 2.7 million light-years away that had lost its outer layers in previous brushes with its attacker. The perpetrator was a massive black hole that swallowed the star and spewed its guts out into space over the course of a year. A team led by a Johns Hopkins University researcher conducted the probe, and astronomers say its findings could lead to discoveries that shed new light on the central role black holes may play in the growth of galaxies.

The Black Hole Rock Club in Dundalk is closed, for now. The manager was arrested and charged with selling drugs to customers. Inspectors condemned the barnlike structure and slapped notices on all the doors: "This building is unsafe. " Baltimore County Police Chief James W. Johnson wants to go further - padlocking the doors to ensure that the club stays closed for up to one year. The county's "padlock law" gives the police extraordinary power in certain cases to lock the doors of an establishment, though the tactic has not been used there in at least 15 years.

Before there were subprime mortgages, collateralized debt obligations, vacant Nevada McMansions and foreclosed Florida condos, there was Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort, Maryland's original toxic asset. Built in the 1990s, the state-owned hotel was supposed to draw tourists and conferences to Western Maryland. It did, to a modest degree. But every investor in the Allegany County hideaway, whether the capital was financial or political, has come away a loser. Rocky Gap basically hasn't paid its mortgage, held by private investors, for at least eight years.

Children have defied their parents since children first appeared on the planet. Sometimes, kids do what they're told not to do just because … well, because they were told not to do it. Other times, curiosity and a little touch of hubris simply get the better of them. So it was for Icarus. You remember Icarus — his father was Daedalus, who, in Greek myth, fashioned wings out of feathers glued down with wax. Daedalus tells Icarus not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus can't resist the temptation and, as the wax melts, crashes to his death in the sea. Brian Greene, the Columbia University physicist whose popular books have helped take the intimidation out of science for many readers, never felt entirely comfortable with that story.

The problem:: A hole in an East Baltimore sidewalk remained unfilled for four months. The back story:: Harvey Levy owns the Sportsmart on Exeter Street, a family business for 30 years. He noticed a hole in the sidewalk in the 400 block of N. Gay St., near Orleans Street, in April and called 311 to report it. The opening, edged in metal, looked like any number of water meter vaults found elsewhere in the city - except the cover was missing. When Levy saw that prompt action had not been taken, he called back.

Astronomers around the world are pointing their telescopes toward the expected appearance of a new supernova - the explosion of a massive and very distant star. The excitement follows the detection Feb.17 of an unprecedented blast of high-energy radiation, called a gamma ray burst, from a galaxy 440 million light-years from Earth. Gamma ray bursts, or GRBs, are observed about once a day. But astronomers trace almost all of them to the extreme depths of the universe, billions of light years away.

Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have gotten their closest look yet at a suspected "black hole," and the chief scientist on the project says "it's a whopper."Tod R. Lauer, of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, said yesterday that Hubble has revealed a densely packed region of stars at the center of a galaxy called M87, about 52 million light years from Earth in the constellation Virgo.The sharply increasing density of stars toward M87's core, revealed by Hubble for the first time, conforms "dead-on" to theoretical black hole models proposed in 1978 by the late Caltech astronomer Peter Young.

Scientists have found the largest explosion to be detected so far since the big bang created the universe 13.7 billion years ago. It's coming from a black hole the size of our solar system and, thankfully, pretty far away - about 2.6 billion light years. (A light year is 5.9 trillion miles, or about 63,000 times the distance between the Earth and the sun.) Even so, the black hole's size and power were a shock to the astronomer who discovered it. "When I saw it, I almost fell off my chair, I was so startled by it," said Brian McNamara, a research professor at Ohio University.

If playing the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles wasn't a tough enough challenge, the Ravens have to deal with some of the NFL's most unruly fans. These are the same fans who once booed Santa Claus before Christmas. They are the same ones whose behavior led to four jail cells being built inside Lincoln Financial Field. The Ravens have never played a regular-season game in Philadelphia in their brief history, venturing 90 miles north only for preseason games. But playing before half-filled stadiums, Ravens coach Brian Billick said, isn't "a fair barometer" to judge the notorious Eagles fan base.