Thursday, April 19, 2012

Q is for Quasars


Q is for Quasar by Stephen Tremp


Many astronomers believe that quasars are the most distant objects yet detected in the universe. Quasars give off enormous amounts of energy - they can be a trillion times brighter than the Sun! Quasars are believed to produce their energy from massive black holes in the center of the galaxies in which the quasars are located. Because quasars are so bright, they drown out the light from all the other stars in the same galaxy.

Despite their brightness, due to their great distance from Earth, no quasars can be seen with an unaided eye. Energy from quasars takes billions of years to reach the Earth's atmosphere. For this reason, the study of quasars can provide astronomers with information about the early stages of the universe.

The word quasar is short for "quasi-stellar radio source". This name, which means star-like emitters of radio waves, was given in the 1960s when quasars were first detected. The name is retained today, even though astronomers now know most quasars are faint radio emitters. In addition to radio waves and visible light, quasars also emit ultraviolet rays, infrared waves, X-rays, and gamma-rays. Most quasars are larger than our solar system.

You can visit Stephen Tremp at his Web site
Breakthrough Blogs.

Reference:
NASA

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

A to Z Post - P by Matthew

This post is brought to you by one of the April A to Z Challenge co-hosts: Matthew MacNish.

I was hoping to highlight some of my favorite posts I'd seen on the letter P, but then I realized it will take all day for me to read them.

So instead, I'll just list a few cool things that begin with the letter P, and then maybe mention a couple A to Z Participants.

Pirates - ARHG! Plus - booty.

Poetry - Pentameter even.

Prose - Particularly creative writing.

Pulled Pork - Because, yum.

Pizza - Same.

Paris - I've never been, but they say it's wonderful.

Paladins - Because they're really nice guys.

People - We make the world go round.

Pillow - Because that moment when your head finally hits it ...

And here is one of my favorite blogs from the challenge whose post about today's letter P, is great:

Kristen is a teacher, a writer, a fan of great literature, and a lover of all things revolutionary, so here's her post: Please Don't Dim the Lights.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

O for Onward in the #atozchallenge !

This Letter "O" post is brought to you by Damyanti, co-host for the A to Z Challenge.
So we're nearing the finishing line... and I'm thrilled to say a whole lot of us are marching on, commenting widely and often, and having a rollicking good time.
Posting to theme everyday for a month can drain a blogger, however, so to everyone whose energies are flagging, we say, "Onward! We're almost there!"
And now, I'll repeat the advice I've been harping on all month: 
1. Turn off your word verification. It helps no one. You may moderate comments for a while if you're unsure. I still find blogs with the Captcha on, and it makes me feel sorry.
2. In your comment id, link only to your AZ blog, NOT your profile which may have five other blogs. Trolling through ten links to find your A-Z blog is too much to ask any one visiting back.


3. Leave a link to you when you comment, so no one spends hours finding you.
4. Comment when you visit blogs, and you'll get comments in return.
5. Make it easy for people to follow your blog and follow you on social media.
So, Onward, folks-- 9 more days to go, and you'll be a winner! You can do this :)

Don't forget about the May 7th Reflections post.  Save the Date!  Details coming soon.








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