- My favorite “Schurik” story (deniseelaineheap.substack.com)
Out on summer break, Alexander Schmorell and two friends decided to bike from Munich to Donauwörth, intending to catch a boat and float down the Danube to Austria. On paper, the 100-kilometer (60 mile) bike ride looked easy. The terrain was relatively flat, a biker’s paradise.
- Messier 81 (Wikipedia)
Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode’s Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a D25 isophotal diameter of 29.44 kiloparsecs (96,000 light-years). Because of its relative proximity to the Milky Way galaxy, large size, and active galactic nucleus (which harbors a 70 million M☉ supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers. The galaxy’s large size and relatively high brightness also makes it a popular target for amateur astronomers. In late February 2022, astronomers reported that M81 may be the source of FRB 20200120E, a repeating fast radio burst.