Kid Stories

Right now, in the center of our galaxy (Milky way), an enormous black hole is stretching an object apart like it were taffy. And scientists currently have a rare view, and images, of this extreme cosmic event playing out. A thick cloud of gas and dust dubbed "X7" is rapidly approaching the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. Black holes harbor almost unimaginable gravity due to their extremely concentrated mass (if Earth were crushed into a black hole, it would be under an inch across), and astronomers have now watched X7 changing for two decades as it veers closer to its last years. The latest observations, published in The Astrophysical Journal(Opens in a new tab), reveal that X7 has been stretched trillions of miles. It's now 3,000 astronomical units in length. An astronomical unit is 93 million miles, or the distance between the sun and Earth. X7 doesn't have much time left. The black hole's gravitational power is relentless.

  Anna Winter pulled on her Gucci sunglasses and sprayed herself with the extra-strength mosquito repellent she had bought in the airport. That was the biggest problem about her work, she thought. Mosquitoes and things like that. Bad hotels, and bad food. How could she be a front-line, award-winning, adventurous journalist if she had to stay in bad hotels and eat bad food?   Anna Winter thought her job was very difficult, and she told everybody about this.   As she landed in Lagos airport, she worried about the hotel where she was staying, and how she would be able to eat for the week she was staying in Nigeria. Perhaps that would make a good article, she thought. Lots of local colour.   Joseph Adoga collected a printed copy of the article he was working and put it in his bag as he left the small office of the Star. The Star was a local paper in Lagos. It came out every evening and had a mixture of stories - politics, current affairs, local news, human interest stories and