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Black Holes Lead Galaxy Growth

The AAS meeting in San Diego is producing lots of news on the astronomy front. Studying galaxies that were forming in the universe's first billion years, astronomers have solved a longstanding cosmic chicken-and-egg problem: which forms first, galaxies or the black holes at their cores? "'We finally have been able to measure black-hole and bulge masses in several galaxies seen as they were in the first billion years after the Big Bang, and the evidence suggests that the constant ratio seen nearby may not hold in the early Universe. The black holes in these young galaxies are much more massive compared to the bulges than those seen in the nearby Universe,"' said Fabian Walter of the Max-Planck Institute for Radioastronomy in Germany. 'The implication is that the black holes started growing first.'"

7 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. I cant believe.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    People keep getting sucked in to these stories.

    1. Re:I cant believe.. by gandhi_2 · · Score: 3, Funny
      bong!

      but seriously, it's nice to hear some good economic news.

  2. bulgy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    The early universe is so bulgy, it's like a moose

  3. What did they really find? by FlightlessParrot · · Score: 4, Funny
    >We finally have been able to measure black-hole >and bulge masses in several galaxies seen as they >were in the first billion years after the Big Bang

    Galaxy cameltoe.

  4. Re:The AAS is not the AAAS by Shag · · Score: 2, Funny

    D'oh, I should have caught the location too - I've got enough colleagues and co-collaborators there, presenting posters, papers, booths, whatever.

    I, of course, have been left behind to run things in their absence, thus protecting audiences from exposure to my idiocy. ;)

    --
    Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
  5. Wimps v. Machos by ookabooka · · Score: 2, Funny

    So I guess the wimps win this round? Small amount of matter out there, occasionally clumping around black holes and heating up? Or do machos win as there could be a lot of black holes out there that we cant observe?

    --
    If you are about to mod me down, keep in mind that this post was most likely sarcastic.
  6. Re:Am I the only one that thinks that.... by Thanshin · · Score: 3, Funny

    There are theories that within each black hole is a universe all to itself, but even if it's true we'd never be able to observe it.

    "Never" doesn't usually work well in science.

    When you aproach the parts we've not really understood yet, it's advised to use expressions like "probably", "As far as we know", "educated guess", "whatever", "tiny little strings..."