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At its largest expanse this year, sea ice covered less than 17 million square kilometers (6.6 million square

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Scientists think they have found an explanation for what scientists thought was a “runaway” black hole speeding through the universe. Last month, scientists reported that they had seen what appeared to be an object unlike anything seen before. What originally appeared to be scratches on Hubble images was actually a black hole that had been thrown out from its home galaxy and was now speeding through the cosmos, scientists said. Astronomers had come to that conclusion after spotting a long trail of stars, formed 8 billion years ago. It was a stretched out, narrow shape, roughly the same size as our own Milky Way. Last month’s study suggested that those stars were the wake left behind from that runaway black hole. As the black hole travelled through a gas cloud, it left behind the right conditions to start forming stars, that study suggested. It was shock and a breakthrough for a number of reasons: it was unprecedented, and required a number of different conditions for it to be true. That led astronomers both to celebrate and question the theory, and in the time since other researchers have been working on their own ideas. Now scientists at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) have suggested their own, more ordinary explanation of the unusual, long star structure. They suggest that it is in fact just a flat or thin galaxy – one without a bulge that makes it wider – that is being seen from its side. “The motions, the size, and the quantity of stars fits what has been seen in galaxies within the local universe,” said Jorge Sanchez Almeida, an IAC researcher who is the first author of the article, in a statement. “It’s a relief to have found the solution to this mystery, the new proposed scenario is much simpler. In one sense it is also a pity, because the existence of fleeing black holes is expected, and this could have been the first one to be observed.” The team compared the mystery structure with another, much better known galaxy, named IC5249. That is near to us, has a similar mass of stars, and doesn’t have a galaxy either. They found that it was surprisingly similar. The stars were moving in similar ways to those found in closer, comparative galaxies, researchers said. That led scientists working on the new paper to suggest that it is a relatively normal and expected galaxy, rather than an out-of-control black hole. But they hope that further observations will shed further light on what exactly it is doing – and could still allow the galaxy to prove of interest to astronomers. “We also looked at the relation between the mass of the assumed galaxy and its maximum velocity of rotation, and discovered that indeed it is a galaxy which behaves like a galaxy,” said Ignacio Trujillo, an IAC researcher who worked on the study. “It is an interesting object, because it is quite a large galaxy at a very large distance from Earth, where the majority of the galaxies are smaller.” The proposal is reported in a paper, ‘Supermassive black hole wake or bulgeless edge-on galaxy?’, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. Read More Aliens may intercept human communication ‘within next 100 years’, study says Powerful auroras likely this week due to rare ‘backward’ sunspot Meteorite crashes through roof of New Jersey home Aliens may intercept human communication ‘within next 100 years’, study says Powerful auroras likely this week due to rare ‘backward’ sunspot Meteorite crashes through roof of New Jersey home

How do you follow the biggest game of the last decade? That’s the dilemma Rockstar games have to deal with as they prepare to release Grand Theft Auto 6. The fifth instalment of the hugely popular video game series was released in 2013 and went on to sell 185 million copies, bringing us one of the most immersive open worlds ever created. It’s been a mainstay for gamers over the last decade and now developers have put fans on high alert after announcing the release of a new trailer due later this year. Here’s everything we know so far about Grand Theft Auto VI. Trailer Rockstar Games delighted GTA fans recently by announcing that a forthcoming trailer for GTA 6 will be unveiled in December. Many have shared the theory that the trailer release has been designed to coincide with the company’s 25th anniversary. Rockstar Games President Sam Houser wrote via the developer’s official social media account: “We are very excited to let you know that in early December, we will release the first trailer for the next Grand Theft Auto. We look forward to many more years of sharing these experiences with all of you.” In fact, it’s made such a big impact in the gaming world that the post announcing the trailer has become the most-viewed gaming tweet in the social media site’s history with more than 143m views. It gives a small indication of the excitement out there for the upcoming instalment of the game. A date for the trailer drop has yet to be announced, but it’s thought that the new clip could arrive during the Game Awards on 7 December. Posting a message to fans, Rockstar Games wrote: “Next month marks the 25th anniversary of Rockstar Games. Thanks to the incredible support of our players worldwide, we have had the opportunity to create games we are truly passionate about. “Without you, none of this would be possible, and we are so grateful to all of you for sharing this journey with us. In 1998, Rockstar Games was founded on the idea that video games could come to be as essential to culture as any other form of entertainment, and we hope that we have created games you love in our efforts to be part of that evolution.” Release date We don’t know the release date yet, of course, but we do know that people have been speculating about a release by March 2025. Why? Well, Rockstar is hinting that major things are planned for the fiscal year of 2025. Strauss Zelnick is the CEO and chairman of Rockstar owners Take-Two. He previously said in a statement: “We remain confident that we are positioning our business for a significant inflection point in fiscal 2025, which we believe will include new record levels of operating performance. “We would like to thank all of our stakeholders for their continued support, and we look forward to delivering on this exciting next chapter.” If the theory is true, it means that the game would be released by March 2025 at the latest, but things are far from certain. The previous game could also give us some indication of when to expect the release. People are also looking back to the GTA 5 trailer, which was released in November 2011 - nearly two years before the game came out on 17 September 2013. A bizarre 'moon theory' is also being used by hopeful fans to predict a release date. Leaks A huge leak at Rockstar showcased a number of details about the game.Hints about the gameplay, setting and characters are focused on in the next section of this article, but some of the other leaks relate to the GTA 6 map. It'll likely be bigger than GTA 5 and Red Dead Redemption 2, way bigger.Fans also noticed 12 leaked details relating to GTA 6 that could be game changers involving NPC interactions and the weather details. Gameplay, features and setting According to a report in Bloomberg, the series will return to Vice City, the setting for iconic 00s game GTA Vice City based on Miami, for the new instalment. The report also claims that the new game will feature more interior locations than ever before. The report also claimed that the game is said to feature two bank robbers as playable main characters, a man and a woman, who have a Bonnie and Clyde-like relationship. It will mark the first time a woman would be a playable character in the game franchise since the release of Grand Theft Auto III. We're still in the dark about many of the features, but fans hope that more dynamic robberies and better NPC interactions are a part of the new game. They're also expecting better graphics. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

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