A Sunday slurry

A completed survey of the southern hemisphere's Milky Way.

A solar farm built over a large reservoir... clean drinking water, solar energy... what's not to like?

Dick wars in the GOP.  Because being a large dick matters apparently.

An environmental activist Berta Cáceres murdered in Honduras.

The return of DIY abortions.

A Tudor vegetable.

Still fucked at Fukushima.

Around the world

How astonishing and unexpected!! Pipeline spill sends 22,000 barrels of oil mix into Alberta muskeg

Whether she will see any of this money is another thing... Woman Who Couldn’t Be Intimidated By Citigroup Wins $31 Million

Oklahoma Rape Victim Denied Emergency Contraceptives. Doctor Cites Religious Objection As Reason. I think suing the doctor (and the nurse who also refused to help) for 18 years of child support might get her attention.

Building tiny houses.. or should I say minimalist housing.

Big corporate fat cat thinks big corporations shouldn't pay taxes like real people.

A WWII Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk is found preserved in the Sahara.

Know your rights if you photograph police.

Because the poor women need to be told what they think? In media reports on women’s issues—abortion, birth control, Planned Parenthood—men are quoted around five times more than women, a new study shows.

Oh NOES!! We're gonna crash! NASA's Hubble Shows Milky Way is Destined for Head-on Collision with Andromeda Galaxy

Compare and contrast: Republican spokesman: ‘Let’s hurl some acid’ at female Democratic senators to these articles about real acid attacks.  Really?  You want to carefully think about what you said, sir?  Are you aware of what you have actually suggested?

What getting rid of Obamacare would really mean to the Republicans:

All of which exposes how problematic the GOP’s two-year-long posture of total repeal always was. As a short-term political posture, it has served them well. But now that the Supreme Court might give them what they want, they’re forced to deal with the reality of what it would mean. And that’s a huge wake-up call for the party, especially one without a clear leader to herd the cats as they figure out their next move. As one Republican health care aide put it to TPM, “I do think some Republicans are finally starting to realize they could be the dog that caught the car.”

Be careful what you wish for... you may get it.

Lunar eclipse

Update: And a time lapse of the Milky Way.

Starry starry night

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

And we thought you guys were our best friends forever!

*sniff*

Two nearby galaxies - long thought to be true companions of the Milky Way - may instead be drifters, passing through the cosmic neighbourhood.

Astronomers say the Magellanic Clouds may be moving too fast to be gravitationally bound to our galaxy.

If the clouds were satellites of our galaxy, the Milky Way would contain twice as much mass as is thought.

[snip]

The researchers say there are two possible explanations for the unexpectedly high 3D velocities of the dwarf galaxies.

The Milky Way could be twice as massive as previously thought: this excess mass, pulling on the clouds, would be required to keep them gravitationally bound.

Alternatively, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds might not be bound to our galaxy after all.

If previous calculations of the Milky Way's mass are correct, it does not possess enough mass to hold on to its companions.

In a few billion years, they will escape the clutches of our galaxy.

"The Magellanic Clouds may not be true companions of the Milky Way," Dr Kallivayalil said. "Perhaps they are travellers, just passing through our cosmic neighbourhood."

There's no place like home

If they'd only stop changing the address...

Imagine the shock of growing up in a loving family with people you call "Mum" and "Dad" and then, suddenly, learning that you are actually adopted!

This same sense of shock came as scientists announced that the Sun, the Moon, our planet and its siblings, were not born into the familiar band of stars known as the Milky Way galaxy, but we actually belong to a strange formation with the unfamiliar name of the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy!

[snip]

Using volumes of data from the Two-Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), a major project to survey the sky in infrared light led by the University of Massachusetts, the astronomers are answering questions that have baffled scientists for decades and proving that our own Milky Way is consuming one of its neighbors in a dramatic display of ongoing galactic cannibalism. The study published in the Astrophysical Journal, is the first to map the full extent of the Sagittarius galaxy and show in visually vivid detail how its debris wraps around and passes through our Milky Way. Sagittarius is 10,000 times smaller in mass than the Milky Way, so it is getting stretched out, torn apart and gobbled up by the bigger Milky Way.