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NASA Uncovers Millions of New Black Holes

Posted by Soulskill on from the enough-for-everybody-so-please-share dept.

coondoggie writes "NASA today said its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite has unearthed a 'bonanza of new-found supermassive black holes and extreme galaxies called hot DOGs, or dust-obscured galaxies.' NASA said the latest discoveries help astronomers better understand how galaxies and the behemoth black holes at their centers grow and evolve together." The news was released in a press conference, and io9 has a comprehensive write-up about everything that was covered, including the Q&A session. Pretty pictures here.

53 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. "NASA Uncovers Millions of New Black Holes" by msauve · · Score: 5, Funny

    Quick, cover them back up, before they cool off!

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:"NASA Uncovers Millions of New Black Holes" by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 1

      [...] its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer satellite has unearthed a "bonanza of new-found supermassive black holes [...]"

      So, in fact, they were right here all along, covered in dirt.

      There's also a hot dog joke in there somewhere.

  2. Black holes by girlintraining · · Score: 3, Funny

    So what they're saying is... they've found teenagers.

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    1. Re:Black holes by SJHillman · · Score: 1

      That'd be "horndogs" not "hot DOGs"

    2. Re:Black holes by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      otherwise known as the "missing Dark Matter"

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  3. Retraction by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    In other news, NASA retracted their claim of millions of new black holes, saying "Someone spilled some coffee on the printouts, sorry..."

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:Retraction by RaceProUK · · Score: 1

      Or it was just grit on the scannerscope.

      --
      No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
  4. I know what you're thinking.. by WOOFYGOOFY · · Score: 5, Funny

    I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'are there a million black holes waiting to hoover up all sentient life from the universe or are there 100 million black holes waiting to hoover up all sentient life from the universe? ' Well to tell you the truth, in all the chaos I myself can't remember how many black holes I made. So let me ask you, punk. Do you feel lucky ?

    1. Re:I know what you're thinking.. by Antipater · · Score: 2

      The word "hoover" just sounds weird in Eastwood's voice.

      --
      Everything is better with chainsaws.
    2. Re:I know what you're thinking.. by girlintraining · · Score: 1

      Do you feel lucky ?

      There is no luck, only science. Hawking radiation -- your black holes will eventually starve and then dissipate.

      --
      #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
    3. Re:I know what you're thinking.. by Jeremy+Erwin · · Score: 4, Insightful

      a hundred million black holes in the universe? Given that there are 170 billion galaxies, that's a pretty small number of black holes.

    4. Re:I know what you're thinking.. by hansraj · · Score: 4, Informative

      A black hole would dissipate via Hawking radiation only if it doesn't absorb more energy than it emits. Large blackholes absorb more energy (cosmic background radiation) than they would emit and hence will not necessarily dissipate. From wikipedia:

      "A black hole of one solar mass has a temperature of only 60 nanokelvins; in fact, such a black hole would absorb far more cosmic microwave background radiation than it emits. A black hole of 4.5 × 1022 kg (about the mass of the Moon) would be in equilibrium at 2.7 kelvin, absorbing as much radiation as it emits. Yet smaller primordial black holes would emit more than they absorb, and thereby lose mass."

    5. Re:I know what you're thinking.. by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Informative

      In the long term -- "long" that makes the current age of the universe look like an eye-blink and protons seem unstable -- the CMB will be redshifted away until even supermassive black holes begin losing mass.

      "This, too, shall pass."

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    6. Re:I know what you're thinking.. by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

      Yes! A hundred million black holes. One for every miracle.

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      Good, inexpensive web hosting
    7. Re:I know what you're thinking.. by Velex · · Score: 1

      In the long term -- "long" that makes the current age of the universe look like an eye-blink and protons seem unstable -- the CMB will be redshifted away until even supermassive black holes begin losing mass.

      "This, too, shall pass."

      Maybe.

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    8. Re:I know what you're thinking.. by Sulphur · · Score: 1

      a hundred million black holes in the universe? Given that there are 170 billion galaxies, that's a pretty small number of black holes.

      Every now and then, one leaves its galaxy and goes to another.

    9. Re:I know what you're thinking.. by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      Well if it doesn't I paid a lot of money for nothing.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    10. Re:I know what you're thinking.. by Sigg3.net · · Score: 1

      Nay. "None shall pass!"

      --
      Defining Statistics and Social Research
    11. Re:I know what you're thinking.. by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      That must have been painful.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
  5. So how does this relate to the "missing matter" by Marrow · · Score: 2

    Black holes are heavy right?

    1. Re:So how does this relate to the "missing matter" by Greyfox · · Score: 1
      Why yes! So heavy, in fact, that one pound of black hole matter weighs over ten thousand pounds!

      If you read that in the voice of Professor Farnsworth, good for you!

      --

      I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    2. Re:So how does this relate to the "missing matter" by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      No, the dark matter is detected by unseen evenly distributed mass across the universe. The black holes are discovered by unseen by very unevenly distributed mass in the universe.

  6. Budget by Osgeld · · Score: 1, Troll

    Guess someone finally bothered to look at that thing, and found all these black holes

  7. New? by rossdee · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'll bet these have been around longer than we have

    1. Re:New? by AwesomeMcgee · · Score: 1

      Speak for yourself.

  8. Missing mass of the universe? by arthurh3535 · · Score: 2

    It sounds like they just found a lot of 'missing mass' here? How does it jibe for balancing things without using 'dark matter/energy'?

    --
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    1. Re:Missing mass of the universe? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Informative

      How does it jibe for balancing things without using 'dark matter/energy'?

      Not well.

      These SMBHs are in the centers of galaxies, and piling up more mass at the center of a galaxy doesn't explain the problem of flat galactic rotation curves. The mass needs to be in and surrounding the galaxy, which is why the non-exotic DM theory is called "MACHOs" as in MAssive Compact Halo Objects -- because it'd have to be in the halo.

      It's even worse for Dark Energy, since extra mass would actually have the opposite effect that DE has, pushing the universe closer to the Big Crunch scenario. It certainly would not explain accelerating expansion.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    2. Re:Missing mass of the universe? by AwesomeMcgee · · Score: 1

      Depends on what a "lot" of missing mass is, that's relative to the amount of mass there is. We can't know how much mass there is, that might be a missing spec in the grand scheme of things.

    3. Re:Missing mass of the universe? by Smauler · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It doesn't. Basically the reasoning for dark matter is this :

      Under Newtonian or Einsteinian physics, galaxies should rotate a lot slower on the outside, and quicker in the middle than than they actually do (a little like our solar system behaves). No one can explain why they do not, satisfactorily yet.

      Dark matter is an explanation which proposes that there is undetectable matter causing the gravity interference which does explain the mechanics of galactic movements. Trouble is, we haven't got a hold of dark matter yet, so although it's an explanation, it's not concrete by any means. If you want a definite explanation, you're probably going to have to go to your priest.

      Black holes don't fit. There aren't that many black holes, and despite the name, they are observable. If there were enough black holes to cause galaxies to rotate like they do, we'd have seen them already.

    4. Re:Missing mass of the universe? by Taibhsear · · Score: 1

      Perhaps someone knows... The more massive the gravitational field, the more time dilation, yes? The farther out you go the less drastic the effect is. Could the rotation just appear (to our frame of reference) to be moving not as fast in the middle (where the gravity is strongest) even though it is moving as it should according to our theories?

    5. Re:Missing mass of the universe? by HarvardAce · · Score: 1

      Perhaps someone knows... The more massive the gravitational field, the more time dilation, yes? The farther out you go the less drastic the effect is. Could the rotation just appear (to our frame of reference) to be moving not as fast in the middle (where the gravity is strongest) even though it is moving as it should according to our theories?

      IINAP (and I'm guessing you're not, either). I used to think of things like this and say, "gosh, couldn't this be the explanation?" Then I remember that there are thousands of experts in the field, and it is extremely improbable that me, a layperson in the field, has thought of something -- especially something relatively (pun intended) simple -- that an expert hasn't thought of and obviously debunked (because we would have read about it were it plausible).

      That said, I don't understand the physics behind gravity wells and their relation to time dilation very well, so I would be interested to hear from one of the aforementioned experts why it's not as simple as Taibhsear has made it sound!

      --
      Note to self: Stop putting jokes in my insightful comments so I can get something other than +1 Funny!
    6. Re:Missing mass of the universe? by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      The farther out you go the less drastic the effect is. Could the rotation just appear (to our frame of reference) to be moving not as fast in the middle (where the gravity is strongest) even though it is moving as it should according to our theories?

      Well, if this was the case, then we would see the same effect in our solar system -- both in the orbits of other planets, and in the orbits of moons around planets -- and they too would show flat rotation curves. However we do not, and both show decreasing orbital velocity with increasing distance from the sun in very close accordance with Kepler's Laws.

      The upshot is that the time dilation effect is extremely small compared to the amount that velocity will drop off with distance from the primary concentration of mass.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
  9. Found it! by mill3d · · Score: 2

    That dark matter isn't so dark anymore in the IR range apparently.

    --
    Nothing is enough for whom enough is too little - Confucius
  10. Millions of black holes ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... nothing to see here, please move along!

  11. Car Analogy? by guttentag · · Score: 1

    Artist's concept of a dusty torus, or donut, of accreting material fueling a quasar.

    There's a "WASH ME" car analogy in there somewhere... I just can't find it!

  12. Holly knows why it took so long to find them... by QilessQi · · Score: 2

    "The thing about a black hole - it's main distinguishing feature - is it's black. And the thing about space, the color of space, your basic space color - is it's black. So how are you supposed to see them?"

    --
    Koans and fables for the software engineer
    1. Re:Holly knows why it took so long to find them... by garyebickford · · Score: 3, Funny

      Look during the day, when there's more light to see by.

      --
      It's easier to be a result of the past, but more fun to be a cause of the future! http://www.spacefinancegroup.com/
    2. Re:Holly knows why it took so long to find them... by drkim · · Score: 3, Informative

      They can be found in a number of ways...

      They give off something called Bekenstein-Hawking radiation because they are sucking up half of spontaneously generated particle pairs - leaving the other half (that would normally disappear back into the sucked up particle) to spray out into space.

      They can be 'seen' by the gravitational lensing they produce when you try to look at the background behind them. (And most of space isn't black, it's full of bright objects and lots of microwave radiation.)

      ...and, of course, their presence can be measured by looking for their strong gravitational pull on instruments and objects around them.

    3. Re:Holly knows why it took so long to find them... by QilessQi · · Score: 1

      Sigh... are there no "Red Dwarf" fans around?

      --
      Koans and fables for the software engineer
  13. Great! by excelsior_gr · · Score: 2

    Maybe now they can find all my missing socks.

    1. Re:Great! by AwesomeMcgee · · Score: 1

      Let it go already, you know we can never find the sock gnome's dimension.

    2. Re:Great! by VortexCortex · · Score: 3, Funny

      Hence why Gnome's logo is a bare foot...

    3. Re:Great! by inode_buddha · · Score: 1

      Erma Bombeck postulated that single socks are the larval stage of coat hangers.

      --
      C|N>K
  14. but enough about their budget... by swschrad · · Score: 2, Interesting

    find any new ones in space?

    --
    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
    1. Re:but enough about their budget... by Hillgiant · · Score: 1

      The immovable thing that inexorably attracts, consumes, and destroys nearby resources? You would need to look into the Pentagon budget for those. Specifically for outsourcing contracts in certain congressional districts.

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      -
  15. Re:food for thought by Penurious+Penguin · · Score: 1

    Sir, is it not as if we didn't already have enough lips and assholes here on Earth? Now when we find swirling masses of bratwursts obscured in fine lager, the we shall have something to celebrate. Until then, control yourself man! They're probably not even kosher.

    --
    Forward! -- Emperor Norton, 2012
  16. How many holes .... by PPH · · Score: 1

    ... does it take to fill Albert Hall?

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  17. Wasn't this obvious? by 3seas · · Score: 1

    It is election season....

  18. Stellar+ black holes coldest thing in universe by peter303 · · Score: 1

    Temperatures measured in pico-kelvins

    1. Re:Stellar+ black holes coldest thing in universe by msauve · · Score: 1

      You're referring to Hawking radiation, and of course that only applies to the temperature as measured externally. What's the temperature of your refrigerator? Mine's a bit above 0C, but I can't measure that externally. Similarly, the event horizon can be viewed as an insulator, so what is the internal temperature of a black hole?

      With a covering (accretion disk), the externally seen temperature is much higher, in the millions of degrees, hence my comment.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  19. Black holes heat up with time by peter303 · · Score: 1

    They evaporate over vast expanses of time (googol years). They get hotter as the become smaller. But the time an event horizon is around atomic size, they can reach trillions of degrees.

  20. Best line by LeadSongDog · · Score: 1

    "We've got the black holes cornered," said Daniel Stern of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., lead author of the WISE black hole study and project scientist for another NASA black-hole mission, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR). "WISE is finding them across the full sky, while NuSTAR is giving us an entirely new look at their high-energy X-ray light and learning what makes them tick."

    So that's "cornered" as in "Nobody move, I've got you all surrounded"?

    --
    Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
  21. hot dogs by wongjoh · · Score: 1

    Why all this americanism? Lets do 'churros' next time -- celestial hypernovas universally renderes recognizable on search