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Recent, remarkable images, made by the EHT collaboration of M 87, exhibit a ring of emission, presumably orbiting a six billion solar mass black hole. It is proposed that what is observed is not an ion pressure-supported torus, but an extensive "ergomagnetosphere" that connects mechanically to a much larger "ejection disk'', through a "magnetic clutch". It is conjectured that this clutch sustains instabilities that transport energy and angular momentum outward as well as upward.

Ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) are off-nuclear X-ray sources with luminosities that exceed the Eddington limit for stellar renmant black holes.

The first stars and galaxies fundamentally transformed the universe. They formed in the smallest dark matter halos, produced large amounts of ionizing photons, and polluted the universe with the first heavy elements. Near-field cosmology probes this early era through detailed study of nearby relic galaxies that have survived from ancient times.

Universe is full of neutral hydrogen shining in the 21-cm spin-flip transition. Using this line to trace cosmic structure allows us to map the large scale structure in three dimensions very efficiently and cheaply. In practice, this technique has proven to be devilishly difficult.