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Fastest Spinning Black Hole Ever Found

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the wheeee dept.

brian0918 writes, "NewScientist reports that researchers in Cambridge have detected a black hole spinning at nearly 1,000 times per second — the fastest ever recorded. From the article: 'McClintock's team examined a black hole in our galaxy called GRS 1915+105, which lies about 36,000 light years away. They found the innermost stable orbit around GRS 1915 is so close that the black hole must be spinning at nearly 1000 times per second. The finding supports the idea that only fast-spinning stars can collapse to create powerful explosions called long gamma-ray bursts.'" The Astrophysical Journal abstract is open but you have to be a subscriber to read the full article there.

10 of 204 comments (clear)

  1. Fastest Spinning Black-Hole by Quaoar · · Score: 5, Funny

    I thought this title was held by White House press secretary Tony Snow...

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    I'll form my OWN solar system! With blackjack! And hookers!
    1. Re:Fastest Spinning Black-Hole by brian0918 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ahh, so he's considered a black hole because of his ability to absorb vast amounts of information, yet emit nothing in return, except through accidental leaks over billions of years? Brilliant insight!

  2. Original Article by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Informative

    The original article is from The Astrophysical Journal and I'm not sure if you can read this but I'll link it here. I have an account so that may be unreachable, if it is try the PDF of it or the abstract. I often enjoy reading the original article no matter how large and complex it is. If anything, it causes me to look up more terms so that I feel like I'm learning something.

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    My work here is dung.
  3. Get the full text (no subscription) here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The astrophysics arXiv preprint from June.

  4. The moon is green cheese by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Yes, a deliberately inflammatory subject line. In The Olde Dayes, people said the moon was made of green cheese because it has the colour of green (unripened) cheese and their models were not very sophisticated. We still rely on models and the outcomes are only as good as the models themselves, and the observations they are based on.

    People, what we have is a model, not an observation. As TFA says, this model is based on assumptions, though fewer assumptions in the past:"Now, astronomers have measured the spin of a black hole with a new method that requires fewer assumptions."

    The black hole may indeed be spinning at 1000 revs, or is might just be that one of the model assumptions is invalid.

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    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  5. So the question is... by Kenja · · Score: 4, Funny

    So the question is, whos grave is it and what did we do to get them to spin that fast?

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    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
  6. obligatory by owlnation · · Score: 4, Funny

    I for one, welcome our new extremely dizzy overlords.

  7. Re:Orbiting at no more than 30 miles from the cent by Eternauta3k · · Score: 5, Funny
    It's got to be on the verge of exploding. I wonder what effect the explosion will have here on Earth at 38,000 light years away?
    Maybe it has already exploded. Just wait 38,000 years to find out.
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    Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
  8. Re:why spinning it good by qwijibo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    A 747 could easily be deflected with BBs. The velocity and quantity of BBs is the most relevant factor. A billion BBs would deflect a 747 pretty easily. Or maybe just a handful of BBs at 2/3 the speed of light.

  9. Re:Multi-Dimensional Universe by Jerf · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Uh, "Informative" my ass. A selection of other "technology" articles from India Daily, obtained simply by clicking on the "technology" tab on their page:
    Gravity wave connectors through black hole singularities connect integrated consciousness from the chilled universe: Mathematically it is clear now that gravity waves can easily pass through the points of singularities in the black holes. These connect the integrated consciousness and provide guidance from the chilled universe below the Hyperspace.

    We are part of a super advanced Type IV extraterrestrial civilization- projection of Zero Point Energy Module encapsulated as life on 3-D vector space with increasing span: After attaining perfection or 'Error Vector zero', we move on to higher dimension and continue the process till we cross into the chilled universe.

    The world of advanced extraterrestrial civilizations - life-surrounding singularities: The time and space dimensions (infinite in numbers) can be accessed individually, manipulated and new configurations can be created.
    India Times articles often show on Fark; I'll leave it to you to guess why.

    Moderators: Big words != informative.