Wishing everyone a very safe and merry holiday season.
Archive for December, 2007
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
NGC 3603 is visible in the telescope as a small rather insignificant nebulosity with a yellowish tinge due to the effects of interstellar absorption. In the mid-1960s optical studies coincided with radio astronomical observations which showed it to be an extremely strong thermal radio source. Later observations in other galaxies introduced the concept of ’starburst’ regions, in some cases whole galaxies, of extremely rapid star formation and NGC 3603 is now considered to be such a region. In 1987 a supernova (known as SN 1987A) occurred in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This was the first supernova to be close enough for detailed observation with satellite based telescopes. One result was the discovery that prior to the main explosion it had thrown off a relatively small amount of material in a very distinctive pattern, a bit like an hourglass perpendicular to a detached glowing ring. One star in NGC 3603 (Sher 25, the number comes from the 1960s optical observations) was found to have thrown off matter in a pattern similar to that found for the supernova 1987A. This coincidence has aroused intense interest.
NGC 3603 image - Hubble Space Telescope, NASA
A GROVEDALE (near Melbourne) man watched in amazement as a 3m shark leapt from the water to attack a kangaroo swimming out to sea at Torquay’s Fishermans Beach.
“The shark came right out of the water,” Daniel Hurst said yesterday. “It flipped onto its side. I didn’t see the kangaroo after that.”
Then, a second witness came forward to back the bizarre story. Later, authorities confirmed they removed the remains of a kangaroo from the beach.
I get cockys visiting my house each day, usually in the late afternoon. Yesterday, I kept hearing something banging in the kitchen. When I went to investigate I found this guy opening my window and helping himself to the bread … cheeky bugger, it’s not even Christmas yet!
This weekend I took Willow out to the park. While there we went for a wander and saw this amazing sight. A Mother Pacific Black duck was carefully herding her little ones around the edges of the pond while they were dipping under the water grazing for food. She remained attentive and watched over them while they dined.