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First Science From A Virtual Observatory

Posted by timothy on from the we-think-therefore-it-is dept.

mindpixel writes "I first mentioned Virtual Observatories in my July 2000 Slashdot interview. Now, nearly four years later, Spacetelescope.org is reporting a European team has used the Astrophysical Virtual Observatory (AVO) to find 30 supermassive black holes that had previously escaped detection behind masking dust clouds. The identification of this large population of long-sought 'hidden' black holes is the first scientific discovery to emerge from a Virtual Observatory. The result suggests that astronomers may have underestimated the number of powerful supermassive black holes by as much as a factor of five."

4 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. Dark Matter? by einer · · Score: 2, Funny

    I don't think this accounts for dark matter, but it may shed some light on one of the world's oldest questions, immortalized by the great Ray Stevens: "Where do my socks go when I put them in the dryer?"

    1. Re:Dark Matter? by brilinux · · Score: 4, Funny

      but it may shed some light

      Actually, dark matter does not shed light on anything. That is why it is called dark.

  2. That settles that... by Kid+Zero · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's official: The Universe Sucks! :D

    (Couldn't help it)

  3. Let me see if I understand this... by VoidEngineer · · Score: 3, Funny

    we're using laboratories which don't physically exist to detect things we can't actually see...

    hmmm...... somehow this seems like a perverse application of a double negative.