On the way to work this morning I got behind a garbage truck. The name of the business was
A* Disposal.
A free picture of Lisa Simpson stretching out on Giant Steps to whoever can tell us why that is a fabulous name.
Okay, since nobody got it. A* is the name astronomers have given to the black hole at the center of our galaxy. Since it is in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius, it is usually referred to as Sagittarius A*, although of course it is much farther away than the stars in the constellation. Anything that goes in is indeed disposed of. So I'll give you Lisa for free.
4 comments:
Thank you for the explanation. I had no idea what A* meant at all.
I thought it was a good opportunity for a little science lesson. A* is detectable only as a radio source, of course. Every once in a while it swallows a star and we get a burst. But by definition, it can't actually be seen.
Unfortunately, I suspect that most people think of waste disposal as throwing their garbage into a black hole, where it disappears forever. My wife's family thought their toilets were magic trash cans. Put anything you want into it, push the lever, and it magically disappears.
Yeah, that's true. It would be better I suppose if we had a real black hole available.
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