Galactic Cannibalism Photographed

fuqqer writes "What does a galaxy do when it gets hungry? It eats another...Check out the story of intergalactic cannibalism on space.com, or on cnn.com. There's a oldie but goodie nature article too! This ain't no pygmy Thanksgiving in Borneo!"

Comments

Oh yeah?!

[ewhenn]

Dear Death Star,

Eat your heart out

Signed,
The omega system

Why it's important

[ghostlibrary]

It's thought that spiral galaxies are the result of mergers or collisions. Thus if we hadn't interacted with another galaxy way back when, we'd not have a spiral. Since interactions cause star formation bursts, and those kick out a lot of metals, they're great for making more potentially life-bearing systems. Cannibalism, that's just if things get too slow and close.

But that's not really why studying galaxy interactions is worth doing. A big reason beyond "it's cool to know the origins of stuff" is that there's only 2 ways to test basic physics. Either crash subatomic stuff, or look at galaxy-scale or larger. Both are the only places where really small effects in physics (like relativity or mass differences or antisymmetry effects) show up.

Subatomic is easier in some ways, as you can actually run an experiment, play with variables. In astronomy, you can only observe, classify, and hope to identify things that are similar yet different.

The famed dark matter hack, for example (hmm... my galaxies won't hold together with just stars and gas using gravity. Let me add some dark matter to keep them stable, those pesky humans won't know the difference) is a good case for continuing this study. If dark matter exists, it should also exist in our solar system, and may have properties worth investigating. If it doesn't exist, our basic understanding of physics is entirely wrong and that opens up entirely new possibilities.

So, support your local astronomers, they're determining reality around you, and letting us know where we came from!

Re:Why it's important

[dreamchaser]

Read up on 'Supersymmetry' (start with a Google Search). The best current candidate for dark matter is the LSP (Lightest Superpartner), which is expected to be discovered (may already have been in fact) at either CERN or Fermilab.

Supersymmetric particles do not interact with 'normal' matter, hence we can't detect them directly. The only exception to this is the Higgs Boson, which is believed to be what gives all particles their mass.

We'll never be able to study dark matter directly, only it's effects on the cosmic scale or in the bubble chamber of a particle accellerator.

Also, it's not really a hack, as it is now predicted by many models.

NASA Pr0n?

[mhesseltine]

click here for hot galaxy-on-galaxy action

Swirl!

[Anonvmous Coward]

Sega has filed suit against the Tadpole Galaxy over a trademark dispute involving their Dreamcast logo. Representatives from Sega said... oh ... crap. I'm sorry guys, I've got nothin. I have no idea why I can't come up with a zinger with a wonderful setup like this.

I live in Borneo

[Anonymous Coward]

And I don't appreciate that comment one bit. I find in prejudiced, and mean.

Borneo is a BEAUTIFUL island. I'm going to assume you've never been here.

Borneo is a large island in Southeast Asia. It is in fact the third largest island in the world, behind Greenland and New Guinea. The southern two-thirds of Borneo is controlled by Indonesia, and the northern one third by Malaysia, as can be seen in the map on this page. The Indonesian portion is called Kalimantan, which is further divided into four Indonesian provinces. The Malaysian portion is divided into two, the provinces of Sarawak and Sabah. In addition, the tiny oil-rich state of Brunei is wedged between the Malaysian provinces of Sarawak and Sabah. Approximately 16 million people, including that homo cmdrtaco live on the island of Borneo. About 2 million live in Sarawak, another 2 million in Sabah, 300,000 in Brunei, and the rest in Kalimantan. The island's population is quite low, compared to most surrounding areas. For instance, the island of Java, directly to the south of Borneo, has over 130 million people, yet it has only 1/5th the size of Borneo.

The explanation is in the island's geography. Until logging began a few decades ago, the island was completely covered by a dense rainforest. Like other rainforests, the thick vegetation can be deceiving, since the soil underneath is almost always poor for agriculture. This poor soil, plus its frequently hilly terrain and the fierce headhunter reputation of its inhabitants, ensured that the island remained underdeveloped compared to some nearby islands and countries.
Many large rivers flow from the central mountains of Borneo into the sea, but few rivers are navigable more than about 100 miles upriver from the sea. Because of this, and the difficulty of building roads through the jungle, the interior of Borneo developed a mystique as one of the most mysterious and exotic places on Earth. The name Borneo sounds like an impossibly far off place to many, like Timbuktu or Tibet.

Re:I live in Borneo

[Anonymous Coward]

And I don't appreciate that comment one bit. I find in prejudiced, and mean.

Borneo is a BEAUTIFUL island. I'm going to assume you've never been here.

Borneo is a large island in Southeast Asia. It is in fact the third largest island in the world, behind Greenland and New Guinea. The southern two-thirds of Borneo is controlled by Indonesia, and the northern one third by Malaysia, as can be seen in the map on this page. The Indonesian portion is called Kalimantan, which is further divided into four Indonesian provinces. The Malaysian portion is divided into two, the provinces of Sarawak and Sabah. In addition, the tiny oil-rich state of Brunei is wedged between the Malaysian provinces of Sarawak and Sabah. Approximately 16 million people, including that homo cmdrtaco live on the island of Borneo. About 2 million live in Sarawak, another 2 million in Sabah, 300,000 in Brunei, and the rest in Kalimantan. The island's population is quite low, compared to most surrounding areas. For instance, the island of Java, directly to the south of Borneo, has over 130 million people, yet it has only 1/5th the size of Borneo.

The explanation is in the island's geography. Until logging began a few decades ago, the island was completely covered by a dense rainforest. Like other rainforests, the thick vegetation can be deceiving, since the soil underneath is almost always poor for agriculture. This poor soil, plus its frequently hilly terrain and the fierce headhunter reputation of its inhabitants, ensured that the island remained underdeveloped compared to some nearby islands and countries.
Many large rivers flow from the central mountains of Borneo into the sea, but few rivers are navigable more than about 100 miles upriver from the sea. Because of this, and the difficulty of building roads through the jungle, the interior of Borneo developed a mystique as one of the most mysterious and exotic places on Earth. The name Borneo sounds like an impossibly far off place to many, like Timbuktu or Tibet.

Official GNAA statement

[Anonymous Coward]

Please inform your area residents that GNAA does not condone or support such practices. The Association thinks there are better ways to conflict resolution in this case.

Galactic Cannabis Photographed

[Anonymous Coward]

Posted by michael on 07:51 PM August 8th, 2003
from the universe-is-just-a-giant-hot-box dept.

toqqer writes "What does a galaxy do when it gets hungry? It eats another...Check out the story of intergalactic cannabis on hightimes.com, or on overgrow.com. There's a oldie but goodie budlife420 article too! This ain't no Mexican ditchweed in a bong!"

Oh my god, what have they done!!

[poity]

Soon, there will be Mad Galaxy Disease!

Then, all the non-affected galaxies will organize a boycott of imported ... matter.

In Russia...

[Johnny Mnemonic]

In Space, Galaxies eat YOU!

And it is all because:

[xyvimur]

One Galaxy to Rule Them All, and In the Darkness Bind Them All.

Silver man on surfboard seen fleeing scene

[Mothra the III]

Unidentified man not available for comment.