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Black Hole Sans Donut Puzzles Astronomers

Posted by timothy on from the no-eclair-either dept.

Anonymous Squonk writes: "This time, a telescope made news by not finding something. According to this Honolulu Star-Bulletin article, a black hole was found that did not contain the expected 'donut' of warm matter swirling around it. This discovery (or lack of discovery) may lead scientists to rethink what they know about the core of active galaxies."

2 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Is inference an art? by imrdkl · · Score: 0, Troll
    When I read stuff like this, I really wonder about the reliability, feasibility, and especially the beleivability of inference based on observations (or inference from the lack of observation). Consider a couple more..

    • Wobbly suns mean planets are orbiting around them, even though they cant be seen. Maybe they just wobble once in awhile. I know I do. ;)
    • The universe keeps getting older, because we know exactly how light behaves over time and space. What happens when we invent yet larger and/or more powerful telescopes? Will galaxies continue to be found which are further and further away?
    • The moon must only be about 5-10 thousand years old, since it only had a half-inch or so of dust on it, uniformly and consistently.
    I'm no physicist, and probably should just be reading this thread from afar, but I cant help wondering about these "inconsistencies".

    Please dont lecture me about the scientific process, I do respect the work and effort of those who would know answers to these sorts of questions, but once again they must revise their theories, it seems.

    Perhaps cosmological inference is simply faith.

  2. No one told me about any doughnot theory? by Tyler-Durden255 · · Score: 0, Troll

    No one told me about any doughnut theory therefore I'm not very troubled...

    What are the precepts of this theory anyway? That because we see some matter spinning along a plane in an accretion disk there must be other matter doing about the same thing outside it?

    Or is this one not even an actual theory but a failure of matter to behave the same as a simulation.

    Anyway M87 is an elliptical galaxy, those typically have stars orbiting around there center every witch way not along a flat plane like out spiral galaxy. Why to we expect to see a plane of accretion around the center? because the Black hole MUST have had some angular momentum and transfers it to surrounding matter via tidal and gravitational force? because water always swirls down the drain? Why can't there be an elliptical acceleration area around a black hole that is 3D and not flat?