... Our Sun is part of a huge wheel-shaped collection of stars. ... Astronomers have long suspected it was a very massive black hole, and that every galaxy had such a central mass, created early in the history of the universe. ... However, unless that object happens to be headed directly at the black hole (a relatively small target) it will just swing around and fly away again, like a comet making a pass at the Sun. The velocity acquired in falling towards the black hole also helps it escape. ...

... Kuiper belt objects are icy bodies in the outer solar system. ... Views of Kuiper Belt Objects . Object 1993 SC . This image shows a small part of the discovery frames of 1993 SC, one of the brightest Kuiper-Belt objects so far discovered. ... Assuming that Object 1993 SC reflects light much like other primitive asteroids and comets in the out solar system, the diameter is around 300 kilometers (186 miles), or just a quarter the size of Pluto's moon Charon. ... Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Impact . ...

Clusters of galaxies are the largest gravitationally bounded structures in the Universe dominated by dark matter. We review the observational appearance and physical models of plasma structures in clusters of galaxies. ... The knowledge of the complex dynamical and feedback processes is necessary to understand the energy and matter balance as well as to constrain the role of the non-thermal components of clusters. ...

Cosmic Research, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2004, pp. 435­488. Translated from Kosmicheskie Issledovaniya, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2004, pp. 453­508. Original Russian Text Copyright © 2004 by Veselovsky, Panasyuk, Avdyushin, Bazilevskaya, Belov, Bogachev, Bogod, Bogomolov, Bothmer, Boyarchuk, Vashenyuk, Vlasov, Gnezdilov, Gorgutsa, Grechnev, Denisov, Dmitriev, Dryer, Yermolaev, Eroshenko, Zherebtsov, Zhitnik, Zhukov, Zastenker, Zelenyi, Zeldovich, Ivanov-Kholodnyi, Ignat'ev, Ishkov, Kolomiytsev, Krasheninnikov, Kudela,