Jan 17 - Ancient Silk Road Irrigation

January 17 Ancient Silk Road Irrigation by:

Drone recon finds ancient Silk Road irrigation system Scientists used drones to map this previously-unknown 1,600-year-old irrigation system in arid northwest China, one of the world's driest climates. Zooming star points to black hole in globular star cluster Globular star clusters contain our galaxy's most ancient stars. Astronomers didn't expect to find a 4-solar-mass black hole in one, but ... voila! Supercomputer insights on mysterious black hole jets Scientists used the Blue Waters supercomputer to show that a black hole's relativistic jets and accretion disk both may be spinning - and precessing over time - around an axis separate from the black hole itself. Tonight … Will you see a young moon? It'll be tough to see, but, especially if you're in the Americas or on a Pacific island, you have a shot at it.

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Will you see the young moon tonight? You might see it from the Americas, or on a Pacific island. If you miss it, look tomorrow evening.

Cloud tower, view from space An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) took this photo of a massive vertical cloud formation above the Bahamas' Andros Island. Submit your photo to EarthSky here!

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