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Welcome To Outer Space Central.com!

This is an independent informational site covering interstellar space and related material. Items presented here are rather unique and in-depth, but in laymen's language. Technical jargon is kept to a minimum.

Einstein Relativity

Flare #10

It is virtually impossible to have a discussion about Black Holes and other space items without some understanding of Einstein's General Relativity (GR). So the basic tenants of GR are explained in laymen terms. The concepts of space-time and the relativistic view of gravity are covered. Several proofs that Einstein's theories are indeed correct are discussed.

Black Holes

Supermassive Black Hole

Black Holes are explained in simple terms. There are two kinds of Black Holes - those that come from dying stars and those that are at the center of most galaxies. The gravitational force of a black hole is extremely strong because all of its matter is concentrated at its central core. The intense gravitational field of a black hole prevents everything, including light, from escaping.

Active Galaxies

Galaxy 3c 348

An active galaxy is a galaxy that has a small core of extremely high powered emissions forming massive jets emanating from the center of the galaxy. Active galaxies have an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN). The core is extremely bright and maybe highly variable compared to the rest of the galaxy. Most galaxies have super-massive black holes at their centers.

Supernovas

Unknown Supernova

On average a supernova will occur about once every 50 years in a galaxy the size of our Milky Way. On a larger scale, a supernova explodes every second somewhere in the universe. A Caltech team has found a super-supernova (10 times brighter than a normal supernova) every 2 weeks. That means that one in every 10,000 supernovas is a super-supernova.

Milky Way Haze

Milky Way Haze

The Parkes radio telescope in Australia has detected monster outflows of charged particles from the center of our Milky Way. They can only be seen using x-ray or radio telescopes. These outflows contain an extraordinary amount of energy - about a million times the energy of an exploding supernova. These outflows correspond to a "haze" of microwave emissions.