Posted by
chrisd
on from the infinite-radius-finite-diameter dept.
paradox writes "Reuters is reporting that scientists have found a massive black hole 40,000 light-years away that could change the way scientists think about black holes. The mass of this particular black hole is 14 times the mass of the sun, compared to the typical mass of 3 to 7 suns."
Why the puzzle?
by
Mt._Honkey
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
Is it so odd that a stelar black hole formed, and maybe driften near a cluster of stars or a big ass nebula in its lifetime? Maybe it's ancient.
--
Don't Bogart the fish sticks
Re:Potential energy source?
by
Robert1
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Uh, how would you make the energy? You could send something shooting into it, thus it gaining some kinetic energy, but aside from the slingshot effect it wouldn't have much practical purpose. Anything you shoot at it (if your making power) would probably need to be resent, in which case you'd have to draw it back out. Net energy gained = 0.
Only thing I can think of is using it as a giant waste dump. Launch our trash into it and let it approach the center of the blackhole for all eternity.(Gotta love time dilation)
Supermassive black holes
by
ukryule
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Whatever happened to the theory of supermassive black holes? These black holes, at the centre of each galaxy are supposed to be millions of times heavier than the sun.
So what's so great about a black hole only 14 times as heavy as the sun (which is also further away than the centre of our galaxy)?
Re:Supermassive black holes
by
Lupus+Rufus
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I don't see what's so confusing about it. This black hole was part of a binary system, with a star progressively feeding a black hole. It is an example of a relatively small phenomenon. Supermassive black holes, on the other hand, represent the cores of galaxies, and are incomparable to these "small" black holes for any number of reasons. This 14-sol black hole is new because we never knew small black holes could be so large.
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Aren't you dead?
yes you can...
by
efuseekay
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· Score: 5, Interesting
it's called the Penrose process. You use it on a rotating blackhole.
The idea is that in a rotating blackhole, the minimum point of the potential moves around, so you can actually "slows" the blackhole while getting a nice angular momentum kick.
Much like how you use the rotation of jupiter for slingshot. ("gravity assist" is a bad phrase, reality is that it's "angular momentum assist")
-- Mode (3) smart-aleck mode. Press * to return to main menu.
we could be living in one big black hole
by
goodchef
·
· Score: 1, Interesting
On the subject of black holes, it's interesting to note that our entire (known) universe could be inside of a black hole. In fact, that super-black hole could be inside of a larger universe, and so on ad infinadum, or as far as you wanted to observe. conversely, since we seem to always be finding that our current "elementary" particules are in fact made up of smaller stuff. (atoms -> protons&electrons etc. -> quarks -> strings), black holes in our universes could contain entire universes within them.
Or perhaps, since the massive gravity of a blackhole would warp 4-dimensional spacetime, perhaps they lead to other unknown parts of this universe, so far away that we've never observed or discovered it. in that case, having a black hole nearby wouldn't be that bad. We'd still have to find some exotic matter or something to counteract the tidal forces, and there's time discrepancy issues to deal with, but that's a somewhat moot point.
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"Inflammable means flammable? What a strange country!" -Dr. Nick, The Simpsons
Re:Size IS important.
by
anethema
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I'm confused. I was under the impression that a black hole was a star that had collapsed and the space between the electrons and the nucleus (sp?) was reduced to zero. We're always told if the earth turned into a black hole, (yes i know it cant) it would be the size of a basketball. Can someone please clarify? Im giving up the right to moderate on this story by posting this, so someone better reply:)...
--
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
Re:Potential energy source?
by
gilroy
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Blockquoth the poster:
Assuming Big Bang theory, yadda yadda, the reason the universe expands is because of kinetic energy -- mass moving away from the "big bang".
Actually, the Universe expands because, well, the Universe expands... it's in the nature of the spacetime metric, as one of the solutions to Einstein's equations. It doesn't (necessarily) have anything to do with kinetic energy... it's not that planets, stars, etc., are flying into empty space. It's that space itself is growing larger with time.
Re:Where the hell did those figures come from?
by
aengblom
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
And I quote:
"Working out the star's mass and orbit, they inferred a surprising mass for the black hole. It weighs about 14 times as much as our Sun. That's nearly twice as much as any other in a similar binary system. (Black holes at the centres of galaxies can be thousands of times heavier still)."
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So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number
Possible black hole merger?
by
MetricT
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I remember reading in the literature about a survey of the masses of all known stellar-mass black holes, which led to the interesting discovery that, for reasons unknown, a majority of black holes mass about 7 Msun.
I can't help but wonder if a 14 Msun black hole is the remnant of a black hole merger. Maybe we'll be able to compare the black-hole-merger-grand-challenge problem with reality after all.
Slashdot Mirror
Is it so odd that a stelar black hole formed, and maybe driften near a cluster of stars or a big ass nebula in its lifetime? Maybe it's ancient.
Don't Bogart the fish sticks
Uh, how would you make the energy? You could send something shooting into it, thus it gaining some kinetic energy, but aside from the slingshot effect it wouldn't have much practical purpose. Anything you shoot at it (if your making power) would probably need to be resent, in which case you'd have to draw it back out. Net energy gained = 0.
Only thing I can think of is using it as a giant waste dump. Launch our trash into it and let it approach the center of the blackhole for all eternity.(Gotta love time dilation)
Whatever happened to the theory of supermassive black holes? These black holes, at the centre of each galaxy are supposed to be millions of times heavier than the sun.
So what's so great about a black hole only 14 times as heavy as the sun (which is also further away than the centre of our galaxy)?
it's called the Penrose process. You use it on a rotating blackhole.
The idea is that in a rotating blackhole, the minimum point of the potential moves around, so you can actually "slows" the blackhole while getting a nice angular momentum kick.
Much like how you use the rotation of jupiter for slingshot. ("gravity assist" is a bad phrase, reality is that it's "angular momentum assist")
Mode (3) smart-aleck mode. Press * to return to main menu.
On the subject of black holes, it's interesting to note that our entire (known) universe could be inside of a black hole. In fact, that super-black hole could be inside of a larger universe, and so on ad infinadum, or as far as you wanted to observe. conversely, since we seem to always be finding that our current "elementary" particules are in fact made up of smaller stuff. (atoms -> protons&electrons etc. -> quarks -> strings), black holes in our universes could contain entire universes within them.
Or perhaps, since the massive gravity of a blackhole would warp 4-dimensional spacetime, perhaps they lead to other unknown parts of this universe, so far away that we've never observed or discovered it. in that case, having a black hole nearby wouldn't be that bad. We'd still have to find some exotic matter or something to counteract the tidal forces, and there's time discrepancy issues to deal with, but that's a somewhat moot point.
"Inflammable means flammable? What a strange country!" -Dr. Nick, The Simpsons
I'm confused. I was under the impression that a black hole was a star that had collapsed and the space between the electrons and the nucleus (sp?) was reduced to zero. We're always told if the earth turned into a black hole, (yes i know it cant) it would be the size of a basketball. Can someone please clarify? Im giving up the right to moderate on this story by posting this, so someone better reply :) ...
It's easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.
Actually, the Universe expands because, well, the Universe expands... it's in the nature of the spacetime metric, as one of the solutions to Einstein's equations. It doesn't (necessarily) have anything to do with kinetic energy... it's not that planets, stars, etc., are flying into empty space. It's that space itself is growing larger with time.
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
And I quote:
"Working out the star's mass and orbit, they inferred a surprising mass for the black hole. It weighs about 14 times as much as our Sun. That's nearly twice as much as any other in a similar binary system. (Black holes at the centres of galaxies can be thousands of times heavier still)."
So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number
I remember reading in the literature about a survey of the masses of all known stellar-mass black holes, which led to the interesting discovery that, for reasons unknown, a majority of black holes mass about 7 Msun.
I can't help but wonder if a 14 Msun black hole is the remnant of a black hole merger. Maybe we'll be able to compare the black-hole-merger-grand-challenge problem with reality after all.