US and Russian officials meet to discuss Ukraine as Trump pushes for a breakthrough - while Kremlin dismisses peace hopes
The Kremlin on Sunday downplayed expectations of a rapid resolution. 'We are only at the beginning of this path,' spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian state TV.
Moment Scottish man erupts at Gen Z vaper on train: 'Put your f***ing wee vape in your pocket and lock it!'
The fuming commuter said he was 'not kidding around' in shocking video footage of the row while other passengers tried to suppress their laughter.
Football club rocked after being left 'unaware' of star midfielder's conviction for dealing cocaine until 30 minutes AFTER his sentencing
Press has played every game this season for the semi-professional side Barry and has worn the captain's armband on 19 occasions. The 24-year-old has been a key player for the outfit.
Heathrow had enough power to keep the airport running after substation fire, boss of National Grid insists
In his first comments since the fire broke out late on Thursday night, John Pettigrew (pictured) said that, while one substation was knocked out two others serving the airport were working throughout.
Scots tourist fights for life after guest house is destroyed by explosion
A Scottish holidaymaker was left with horrific burns after a violent gas explosion demolished a three-storey guest house in the Italian capital of Rome yesterday.
Two men dead and others seriously injured after two-car crash at Chelmsford roundabout
Two people have died and two others have suffered serious injuries after a car crash in Chelmsford, Essex, late last night.
Moment cyclist wields his bike lock to smash rear windscreen during heated road rage incident in London
Footage shows the man walking around a stationary black car wielding a bike lock before he smashes its back windscreen near a bus stop in Elephant and Castle.
Hate preacher Abu Hamza 'will die behind bars' after the hook-handed terrorist's attempt to return to the streets of Britain was rejected by a US court
Despite attempting to be released on compassionate grounds, a judge said the hate preacher and former London nightclub bouncer, posed the greatest threat to the public he ever has.
I'm a cruise worker and this is what life is REALLY like on board - from 24/7 drunk passengers to constant staff hookups…and the one area of the ship that we're forbidden from entering
Read on to find out everything about hookup culture, the surprising free item crew can get in a vending machine and the three words every staff member dreads hearing…
How about cutting your freebies, Chancellor: Her Budget killed growth. This week she's set to cut 10,000 civil service jobs. But yesterday Rachel Reeves squirmed as she justified taking free tickets to a Sabrina Carpenter concert
Chancellor Rachel Reeves said accepting the freebie at the O2 Arena for her and a 'family member' was the right thing to do'.
Horror moment knifeman 'randomly attacks' four people in early-morning rampage: Two rushed to hospital as man arrested
Terrifying CCTV footage shows the man strolling down the street while wielding a knife before brutally striking at a passerby.
What will Donald Trump's tariffs mean for you? How they could affect your finances
This is Money explains what tariffs are, how they work and are implemented and how they could affect the cost of living, savings, investments and pensions for people in Britain.
Madeleine McCann police 'are rushing to charge prime suspect DAYS before he's set to walk free'
Christian Brueckner , 48, is the main suspect in the disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann, who vanished from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in May 2007.
Briton's average annual mortgage bill soars £2,800 in just two years due to rocketing rates
British households - both renters and homeowners - spent a record £217billion on housing costs last year - £8.6billion more than the previous peak in 2016
Primary school teacher who turned up to class so drunk she struggled to walk and forgot who won star prize is banned from classroom
Ashley Atkin (pictured), 38, was just weeks into a new job at Horn's Mill primary school in Helsby, Cheshire, when colleagues noticed that she smelled of alcohol.
Trump reveals who he thinks killed JFK in bombshell interview with Clay Travis after releasing new assassination files
President Donald Trump has shared his thoughts about who killed former President John F. Kennedy in a wide-ranging interview with Outkick founder Clay Travis onboard Air Force One on Saturday.
Emily in Paris star seen on sexy topless vacation in Mexico without fiance
Emily in Paris star Camille Razat sizzled in the Mexican sun during a luxurious beachside escape in Tulum on Saturday, soaking up the rays with a gal pal.
Stansted Airport travel chaos as signalling problem causes train cancellations
Disruption is expected to continue throughout rush hour
Another Large Black Hole In 'Our' Galaxy
RockDoctor (Slashdot reader #15,477) writes:
A recent paper on ArXiv reports a novel idea about the central regions of "our" galaxy.
Remember the hoopla a few years ago about radio-astronomical observations producing an "image" of our central black hole — or rather, an image of the accretion disc around the black hole — long designated by astronomers as "Sagittarius A*" (or SGR-A*)? If you remember the image published then, one thing should be striking — it's not very symmetrical. If you think about viewing a spinning object, then you'd expect to see something with a "mirror" symmetry plane where we would see the rotation axis (if someone had marked it). If anything, that published image has three bright spots on a fainter ring. And the spots are not even approximately the same brightness.
This paper suggests that the image we see is the result of the light (radio waves) from SGR-A* being "lensed" by another black hole, near (but not quite on) the line of sight between SGR-A* and us. By various modelling approaches, they then refine this idea to a "best-fit" of a black hole with mass around 1000 times the Sun, orbiting between the distance of the closest-observed star to SGR-A* ("S2" — most imaginative name, ever!), and around 10 times that distance. That's far enough to make a strong interaction with "S2" unlikely within the lifetime of S2 before it's accretion onto SGR-A*.)
The region around SGR-A* is crowded. Within 25 parsecs (~80 light years, the distance to Regulus [in the constellation Leo] or Merak [in the Great Bear]) there is around 4 times more mass in several millions of "normal" stars than in the SGR-A* black hole. Finding a large (not "super massive") black hole in such a concentration of matter shouldn't surprise anyone.
This proposed black hole is larger than anything which has been detected by gravitational waves (yet) ; but not immensely larger — only a factor of 15 or so. (The authors also anticipate the "what about these big black holes spiralling together?" question : quote "and the amplitude of gravitational waves generated by the binary black holes is negligible.")
Being so close to SGR-A*, the proposed black hole is likely to be moving rapidly across our line of sight. At the distance of "S2" it's orbital period would be around 26 years (but the "new" black hole is probably further out than than that). Which might be an explanation for some of the variability and "flickering" reported for SGR-A* ever since it's discovery.
As always, more observations are needed. Which, for SGR-A* are frequently being taken, so improving (or ruling out) this explanation should happen fairly quickly. But it's a very interesting, and fun, idea.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
We live in the so-called 'best town in Britain,' but there is a downside: Locals reveal what life is REALLY like in lauded market town
The chocolate box charm of Saffron Walden, in Essex, has failed to win over some people in the town who have bemoaned the poor broadband connection and mobile phone reception.