Milky Way Black Hole Could Reignite

sciencehabit sends us to Sciencemag.org for an account of a survey of nearby galaxies that points to the possibility that once-quiescent galactic nuclei could wake up and become active again. If the Milky Way's dormant black hole should become active, it could be bad news for life on Earth (and elsewhere in the neighborhood). The paper (PDF) is up on the arXiv.

Comments

Re:Eye muss bee knew hear

[DirkGently]

Because black holes can only "eat" so fast.

As matter accelerates and gets closer and closer to the event horizon, particles begin bouncing into each other, like outside that one Who concert. Except in this case, instead of being crushed to death (as those concert-goers), centripetal force slings matter towards the poles of the hole with enough energy to achieve escape velocity. This creates a massive beam of ultra-high energy particles that would be very bad for your health. Well, two beams (one "up" and one "down"), but you get the idea.