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Death Ray from a Black Hole

Related Article: How Black Holes Work

Watch this Reuters and NASA video showing the effects of a black hole's death ray on a passing galaxy. Scientists say the black hole's death ray produce high amounts of radiation, particularly high energy x-rays and gamma rays.

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Spitzer: Star Wars Sunsets (2:32)

Who can forget the scene in Star Wars where Luke is contemplatively gazing across the Tatooine desert towards a sunset with two suns. See why NASA scientists are now convinced that the universe is full of planets with twin sun sunsets.

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Watch this NASA video to understand how a neutron star is born and its place in the universe. Neutron stars form when massive stars run out of fuel and collapse. The protons and electrons in the star are squeezed together to form neutrons.

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Learn about the forms and contours of the universe.

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Watch this NASA video to learn about supernovas. When these supernovas are formed, they can be the brightest thing visible in the universe. In our own galaxy, we can see supernovas about twice a century (although the last one recorded was in 1604).

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Watch this NASA video to better understand what dark matter is and how it works. Dark matter isn't detectable by any telescope, but NASA scientists know that it's there because they can see the affects on other objects.

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Learn more about investigating astronomy in this video.

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Find out how much you've learned about the stars by taking this video quiz.

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When a star runs out of fuel, it may take one of several paths to “death.” A dwarf star is very small. The most massive stars can collapse to form black holes. Some stars explode, creating novas or supernovas.

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Stars form when gravity causes material in a nebula to condense into a large sphere. When enough material has been accreted, the pressure inside the sphere is great enough to cause hydrogen atoms to fuse into helium and release immense amounts of... More »

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Check out this video for a close-up look at the planet Mars.