Photo of the Day: Death Star Galaxy

In case you haven't noticed, the Photo of the Day hasn't been very daily lately. I did practically promise that in the beginning though. My original plan was to post a lot of new pics with some old ones mixed in, but now, I'm down to mostly old ones. My old digital camera, the trusty Olympus, is about on her last legs. I don't know how old it is, but I bought it before almost anyone had heard of digital cameras and knew of their fabulous features. I paid about $450 for it, and now, you can get better features in a $100 camera. It's so old that Olympus no long sees a need to post the manual for it on their website. It's also bulky and heavy. But it's been with me through a lot. I wish I had back some of the many hundreds of photos I've lost on computers that I failed to back up. (Note to self: Time to do a backup soon.)

I'm hoping to remedy the camera situation shortly after the first of the year. I've got my eye on a Canon Powershot A570 IS. It's just a little point-and-shooter, but it's inexpensive and will fit my momentary needs. I just want a little camera that I can fit into a coat or jacket pocket or a small case so that I can have it with me at all times. I want to be able to just whip it out whenever or wherever. Then again, I might go with another Olympus. I've been with them a while; my last SLR was also an Olympus. Familiarity always cuts down on the learning curve. Well, there's still time to do more research between now and then. Maybe you have some recommendations???

In the meantime, I'm going to post more old photos, try to get in a few more shots with the trusty Olympus before retiring her, and throw in a shot every now and then from other sources that are not me.

On to the picture -- from one of those "other sources." Since the blog is called "Life, the Universe and Everything," it's probably overdue that I'm bringing up the actual universe. This is from NASA and shows a ray from a black hole destroying a galaxy. A galaxy! From the NASA website...

This composite image shows the jet from a black hole at the center of a galaxy striking the edge of another galaxy, the first time such an interaction has been found. In the image, data from several wavelengths have been combined. X-rays from Chandra (colored purple), optical and ultraviolet (UV) data from Hubble (red and orange), and radio emission from the Very Large Array (VLA) and MERLIN (blue) show how the jet from the main galaxy on the lower left is striking its companion galaxy to the upper right. The jet impacts the companion galaxy at its edge and is then disrupted and deflected, much like how a stream of water from a hose will splay out after hitting a wall at an angle.

(Photo from NASA. Click photo for larger.)

Here's a link to an artist's illustration of what's going on here.