Friday Fractal XLII

i-fe43a6461370a211bb84bdd8d994a509-gefwhole2.jpgi-7d2a16aafe04462418621482354699d5-gefwhole.jpgWhat happens when you cross two immensely complex patterns, and then picture them at the perfect unique angle? Consider first, the merging of a skewed Mandelbrot set with a cloud-like plasma fractal. Zoom in on one, out on the other, and blend:

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Now compare this with a photograph of a distant galaxy:

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NGC1356

Like my fractal, the photo was taken at a particular and unique angle, capturing an eclipse of enormous scale. In this case, the Chandra X-Ray observatory captured the eclipse of a black hole with a galactic cloud. This gave astronomers the perfect opportunity to measure the halo of matter falling in to the black hole:

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Astonishingly, this cloud of matter is less than a hundredth of a light-year away from the black hole--a distance much smaller than expected. In less than 100 years, in other words, the cloud in the picture will pass the event horizon, and disappear entirely from our perspective.

Click here for more information from NASA's newsroom.

Galaxy images via Chandra X-Ray Observatory. All fractals made by the author using ChaosPro.

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