Black Hole in Search of a Home

jose parinas writes "Interesting news from the ESO observatory on Paranal about black holes that travel. From the article: 'For 19 of [the low redshift quasars], they found, as expected, that these super massive black holes are surrounded by a host galaxy. But when they studied the bright quasar HE0450-2958, located some 5 billion light-years away, they couldn't find evidence for an encircling galaxy. This, the astronomers suggest, may indicate a rare case of collision between a seemingly normal spiral galaxy and a much more exotic object harbouring a very massive black hole.'" More from the article: "Has the host galaxy been completely disrupted as a result of the collision? It is hard to imagine how that could happen. Has an isolated black hole captured gas while crossing the disc of a spiral galaxy? This would require very special conditions and would probably not have caused such a tremendous perturbation as is observed in the neighbouring galaxy. Another intriguing hypothesis is that the galaxy harbouring the black hole was almost exclusively made of dark matter." Update: 09/17 00:15 GMT by Z : Edited for clarity.

Comments

adoption

[LiquidMind]

I volunteer to adopt it, I think it would make a great companion plus the added perk of being an infinite power source.
*rolls up newspaper* but if it starts behaving badly, we're gonna have a problem.

Re:adoption

[EvilMonkeySlayer]

Unfortunately it's super massive and eats anything that's near it.

Sounds a lot like an ex-girlfriend.

I'll never sleep again

[Eradicator2k3]

"...a much more exotic object harbouring a very massive black hole."

This brings Uhura's "exotic" dance in Star Trek V to mind.

Oh sure....

[Anonymous Coward]

You let one in and there goes the whole neighborhood!

Re:Oh sure....

[rubberbando]

LOL...You are so spacist...

i for one...

[Anonymous Coward]

welcome our black hole throwing overloads...

its all fun and games untill someones galaxy gets hit with a black hole...

I've seen something like this...

[Anonymous Coward]

Has an isolated black hole captured gas while crossing the disc of a spiral galaxy?

If it's anything like my uncle, it doesn't capture gas, it releases it... in large quantities...

Re:Hello?

[Anonymous Coward]

Seconded. Slashdot moderators, stop being horribly imcompetent!

Re:Gotta say ...

[Trip Ericson]

Yeah, it was much simpler when everything was just God's will.

Chiral Dark Matter Galaxies

[Anonymous Coward]

The newest evidence hints that these types of dark matter galaxies are chiral in nature. Recent polarization readings of the detected light show that this quasar may be in a galaxy comprised of approximately 10^42 unmatched left socks. Another recently discovered quasar seems to be in a similar galaxy filled with unmatched right socks.

Scientists are baffled as to how the different handed socks ended up in completely separate galaxies. However, some have stated that the apparent long-range transport phenomenon does provide hints for the mechanisms behind unexplained sock behaviors in this part of the universe.

Re:Hello?

[IWannaBeAnAC]

The very sad thing is, the mistakes were introduced because someone mistakenly thought they actually knew the English language, and edited the original article.

An international team of astronomers [1] used two of the most powerful astronomical facilities available, the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), to conduct a detailed study of 20 low redshift quasars. For 19 of them, they found, as expected, that these super massive black holes are surrounded by a host galaxy. But when they studied the bright quasar HE0450-2958, located some 5 billion light-years away, they couldn't find evidence for an encircling galaxy. This, the astronomers suggest, may indicate a rare case of collision between a seemingly normal spiral galaxy and a much more exotic object harbouring a very massive black hole.

Re:dark matter

[Markus Registrada]

It's pretty clear the "dark matter" reference was just pro forma compliance with Astronomers' Union regulations. From the brochure:

It's so embarrassing to be censured by the Union for leaving mention of dark matter out of one's press release, when it's so easy to drop in. It's not as if "dark matter" (or "dark energy", not yet required!) has any awkward properties to conflict with one's speculations. Even though one's own hypothesis may actually agree with observations and not need shoring up, just mentioning dark matter may help other astronomers who are not so fortunate. Please be considerate.

Update: 09/17 00:15 GMT by Z : Edited for clarity

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy Fscking Shirt! This has got to be a first! A Slashbot actually edited content!

G f'n D - Hell finally froze over!

In a police search a black hole was discovered in

[diogenes57]

I read that headline as: a black hole was discovered in someone's home.
I can imagine the scenario:
Man: Don't go in there officer, trust me!
Officer: Are you trying to hide something boy?
Man: No, it's just that, umm...
Officer: Well we'll just see about what's behind this door, shall we? ...Noooooooo...being sucked in...force of gravity too powerful...aaaaaaahhhhh!!!

Looks like somebody was playing....

[infonography]

Hungry Hungry Hippos, and just ran out of stars.

Re:Hello?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, Slashdot moderators just rolled up a beta testing for their new method: Distributed Simian Grammar Checking... :P

Re:Why couldn't it have

[Anonymous Coward]

The major problem with having a black hole eat an entire galaxy is conservation of angular momentum.

Bloody EPA gets everywhere!

Re:Gotta say ...

[Anonymous Coward]

When did things *stop* being God's will? Everything still is God's will.

Which one's? I prefer Zeus!