Relativistic jets, revisited
Rereading my senior thesis on decelerating relativistic jets — and what the fastest things in the universe say about drag.
My senior thesis was on the deceleration of relativistic jets — matter flung from an active galaxy at nearly the speed of light, gradually surrendering its momentum to everything it plows through.
I reread part of it this week. The physics held up better than the prose. What struck me most was the reminder that even the fastest, most violent things in the universe are eventually shaped by drag — by the slow, patient medium they travel through.
There is probably a lesson in that about careers, or habits. Mostly it made me want to get the telescope out again.