Slashdot Mirror
Colliding Galaxies Reveal Colossal Black Holes
Matt_dk writes "New observations made with the Submillimeter Array of telescopes in Hawaii suggest that black holes — thought to exist in many, if not all, galaxies — were common even in the early Universe, when galaxies were just beginning to form. Astronomers have found two very different galaxies in the distant Universe, both with colossal black holes at their hearts, involved in a spectacular collision."
the web site has become a black hole as well.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
You could have at least made a goatse reference. Damn it man, it was right *there*.
Pictures please!
Or would that be considered "galaxy pron" ?
The opportunity was left wide open!
I don't think that discovering early black holes is all that surprising given that concentrations of matter were much greater early on.
What I want to know, is how did the universe expand beyond its own swartzchild radius?
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
Much like the collision between a server full of astronomy pictures and slashdot.
Nothing survives.
Oh, and as the mass increases, time slows down in the vicinity. Or at least that's how it seems.
Paul Leader
Upon following a river to the sea, ancient man may have thought, "Look! The blue blood of the Mother Earth flows in, but nothing comes out! There is no way to escape the giant hole in our world!"
The concept of going out into such a massive and unyielding force would have seemed like welcoming death itself. "Don't go! You will never come back!"
Today, we take the same myopic and uninformed view. "Don't go into the black hole at the center of our galaxy! You'll disappear forever!"
http://arxiv.org/abs/0808.2188
...must be millions of inhabited worlds, each populated by beings that believed themselves to be the center of the very universe, each believing that their existence had so much significance on the cosmic scale that this would not happen to them.
Instead they find themselves in the most sucky situation in the entire galaxy...
4C60.07 - the first of the galaxies to be discovered - came to astronomers' attention because of its bright radio emission. This radio signature is one telltale sign of a quasar - a black hole, spinning rapidly, feeding on its parent galaxy. A new image captures the moment, approximately 12 billion years ago, when this galaxy ripped a stream of dusty gas from a neighbour.
"This new image reveals two galaxies where we only expected to find one," said Professor Rob Ivison ... "Remarkably, both galaxies contain super-massive black holes, each capable of powering a billion, billion, billion light bulbs. The implications are wide reaching: you can't help wondering how many other colossal black holes may be lurking unseen in the distant Universe?"
Due to the finite speed of light, we see the two galaxies as they collided in the distant past, less than 2 billion years after the Big Bang. By now the galaxies will have merged to create a football-shaped elliptical galaxy. Their black holes are likely to have merged to form a single monstrously large black hole.
"These two galaxies are fraternal twins. Both are about the size of the Milky Way, but each one is unique"
From the thats-a-lot-of-lightbulbs department?
New observations made with the Submillimeter Array of telescopes in Hawaii suggest that black holes -- thought to exist in many, if not all, galaxies -- were common even in the early Universe, when galaxies were just beginning to form. Astronomers have found two very different galaxies in the distant Universe, both with colossal black holes at their heart, involved in a spectacular collision.
4C60.07 -- the first of the galaxies to be discovered -- came to astronomers' attention because of its bright radio emission. This radio signature is one telltale sign of a quasar -- a black hole, spinning rapidly, feeding on its parent galaxy. A new image captures the moment, approximately 12 billion years ago, when this galaxy ripped a stream of dusty gas from a neighbour.
When 4C60.07 was first studied, astronomers thought that gas surrounding its black hole was undergoing a burst of star formation, turning virgin gas into stars at a remarkable rate -- the equivalent of 5,000 of our Suns every year. This prodigious activity was revealed by the infrared glow from smoky debris in which the largest stars rapidly die.
The latest research, exploiting the keen vision possible with the Submillimeter Array, revealed a surprise: 4C60.07 is not forming stars after all. Indeed, its stars may well be relatively old and quiescent. Instead, the prodigious star formation is taking place in a previously unknown companion galaxy, which is rich in gas and deeply enshrouded in dust, and has another colossal black hole glowing as its centre.
"This new image reveals two galaxies where we only expected to find one," said Professor Rob Ivison at the Science and Technology Facilities Council's UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh, lead author of the study that will be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. "Remarkably, both galaxies contain super-massive black holes, each capable of powering a billion, billion, billion light bulbs. The implications are wide reaching: you can't help wondering how many other colossal black holes may be lurking unseen in the distant Universe?"
"It seems we were led to pluck the radio galaxy and its neighbour from the countless millions of objects in the sky because they are involved in a rare collision."
Due to the finite speed of light, we see the two galaxies as they collided in the distant past, less than 2 billion years after the Big Bang. By now the galaxies will have merged to create a football-shaped elliptical galaxy. Their black holes are likely to have merged to form a single monstrously large black hole.
"The superb resolution of the Submillimeter Array was key to our discovery," said Steve Willner of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, a co-author of the paper. "These two galaxies are fraternal twins. Both are about the size of the Milky Way, but each one is unique."
Dr Glenn Morrison, an astronomer at the Institute for Astronomy and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in Hawaii, added "Understanding the prevalence of black holes in the early years of the Universe will rely on combining information from across the whole electromagnetic spectrum".
Professor Ian Smail at Durham University said "The UK's revolutionary new submillimetre camera, SCUBA2, should find many more of these distant starbursts when it is commissioned later this year -- allowing us to track the growth of black holes and their host galaxies in much more detail".
WTH is that? Just a metaphor?
"Look, a picture of a Black Hole!"
"Where?"
"Right there, on that monitor!! The computer on the left there! Look!"
"But there's nothing there...it's...?"
"No, really, that's a photograph, I swear, a real photo of black hole, a COLLISION of black holes! I just downloaded it now, took forever to get to the site."
"Dude, that's my screensaver going into sleep mode"
"Wait, you're right, it was the other computer screen on the right. Sorry. They look sort of the same."
"The computer isn't on."
"But it is really black, no? Amazing what science does these days. Gotta show my dad; he was always into astronomy."
I knew a girl once that I would say had a glowing blackhole...it really was spectacular. OHHHHH /andrewdiceclayvoice
---"What did I say that sounded like 'Tell me about your day?'"---
Something to think about. The presence of black holes could reduce the chance that there's life out there. Not just the "suck up everything" aspect, but the high amounts of ionizing radiation spewing out. Most people really don't realize just how harsh space is.
The accretion disks glow. Actually, the black hole glows, but at a temperature far too low to care, thanks to Hawking Radiation.
Is how to answer my 5-year old's question of: "Ok, but whats outside the universe?"
She gets solar systems, and has a pretty good handle on galaxies and that there are lots and lots of them. I'm still trying to explain the Big Bang, and keep getting hung up on what the universe is expanding INTO.
I know, even us Big People don't have a good answer, but what the heck do you tell a kid?
And now, for the headbangers:
Hole in the sky, take me to heaven
Window in time, through it I fly
Yeah
Am I eval()? - http://www.monst3r.com.br
Damnit. Who left the LHC turned on again!? How many times do I have to say it? When you leave the room please turn off the Large Hadron Collider.
I know I aught be able to work this out myself, but I'm not sure if general newtonian calculations would be accurate. Is it possible to orbit a black hole from inside the event horizon if it is big enough? It seems intuitively obvious that if you can't achieve escape velocity you shouldn't be able to reach an orbital velocity either but I thought I'd see if someone was willing to give a more solid answer.
"Remarkably, both galaxies contain super-massive black holes, each capable of powering a billion, BILLION, BIIIILLLLLLIIIIIOOOOONNNNN light bulbs." Why do I feel like Dr. Evil coauthored this article?
"this galaxy ripped a stream of dusty gas from a neighbour" Gee, and I got ticked when my neighbour nicked my cooking gas canister for his Bar b q.. Black holes and all that.. tsk, tsk ..
... I'll have a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster with a side of Plutonium Nyborg
Black Hole Sun... Won't you come... and wash away the rain?
Bow-ties are cool.
âoeRemarkably, both galaxies contain super-massive black holes, each capable of powering a billion, billion, billion light bulbs."
Most people couldn't possibly conceive of such a number. Maybe they should tell us how many Libraries of Congress that number of bulbs could light.
Can we get a better frame of reference than that please?
It's not enough to bash in heads, you've got to bash in minds. - Captain Hammer
I think these findings start to beg the questions, is a colossal black hole at the center of every galaxy, and are galaxies created *because* of colossal black holes?
This remains one of the more interesting open questions. Did galaxies aggregate central black holes or did primeval black holes catalyse the formation of galaxies? A definitive answer would be at least worth a physics Nobel. It's also why I bothered reading this thread to the bottom.
-- Our systemic servants do not good masters make.
When two neutron stars collide within our own galaxy, the resulting gamma burst can be a serious threat to life on Earth.
How bad would it be if two galactic black holes collided? Would they emit gamma ray bursts as colliding neutron stars do? Would the energy be released in particular directions? If suitably (and very unfavourably) directed, is there any minimum safe distance within the observable universe from such a collision?
Blancmange
Didn't Disney make a "X" rated movie by the same name???
It's not only the number of light bulbs that's important here. One must also ask the wattage of each bulb in order to truly understand the amount of power represented. Are we talking 100 watt bulbs? Or 25 watts? Incandescent, LED, or CFL? The article is stunningly silent on this point...
The contest for ages has been to rescue liberty from the grasp of executive power. -- Daniel Webster
http://slashdot.org/~SockDisclosure/journal/214377
Q: How many astrophysicists does it take to screw in a billion billion billion light bulbs?
A: Two per bulb, but most of them prefer lava lamps.
``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
Am I not doing a good as captain obvious in my above post? Now don't be fooled to thing I did only state the obvious, because I also engaged in Slashdot-wide hate-speech and and pushed popularity of myself. Muhaha! Losers!
I am SockDisclosure. I am a twitter sock puppet rottenführer. We got more... and we're coming for you... Resistance is futile, you will discuss it troll threads only
Oh, and I love to be fisted with a foot real hard, until a part of your as is in my ass, and lick that foot clean afterwards.