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How black holes grow
Astronomy Magazine ^ | 3/3/2012 | University of Utah, Salt Lake City

Posted on 04/03/2012 11:31:22 PM PDT by U-238

A study led by a University of Utah astrophysicist found a new explanation for the growth of supermassive black holes in the center of most galaxies: They repeatedly capture and swallow single stars from pairs of stars that wander too close.

Using new calculations and previous observations of our Milky Way and other galaxies, “We found black holes grow enormously as a result of sucking in captured binary star partners,” said Ben Bromley from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

“I believe this has got to be the dominant method for growing supermassive black holes,” he said. “There are two ways to grow a supermassive black hole: with gas clouds and with stars. Sometimes there’s gas and sometimes there is not. We know that from observations of other galaxies. But there are always stars.”

“Our mechanism is an efficient way to bring a star to a black hole,” Bromley said. “It’s really hard to target a single star at a black hole. It’s a lot easier to throw a binary at it,” just as it’s more difficult to hit a target using a slingshot, which hurls a single stone, than with a bola, which hurls two weights connected by a cord.

A binary pair of stars orbiting each other “is essentially a single object much bigger than the size of the individual stars, so it is going to interact with the black hole more efficiently,” Bromley said. “The binary doesn’t have to get nearly as close for one of the stars to get ripped away and captured

(Excerpt) Read more at astronomy.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; astrophysics; blackholes; physics; stellarscience; stringtheory

1 posted on 04/03/2012 11:31:25 PM PDT by U-238
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To: SunkenCiv; KevinDavis

Ping


2 posted on 04/03/2012 11:34:44 PM PDT by U-238
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To: SunkenCiv

Pinging..


3 posted on 04/03/2012 11:43:42 PM PDT by Las Vegas Dave ("All 57 states must stand together and defeat O-bozo!! VOTE HIM OUT!!!!!!")
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To: U-238

No, Jeff, don’t post that image...


4 posted on 04/03/2012 11:47:40 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (I tried to buy a hoodie today but the store manager said they had all been shoplifted.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Carpe Diem.


5 posted on 04/03/2012 11:49:16 PM PDT by U-238
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To: U-238

Damn carp.


6 posted on 04/03/2012 11:53:28 PM PDT by Jeff Chandler (I tried to buy a hoodie today but the store manager said they had all been shoplifted.)
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To: U-238
How black holes grow:

They are elected to a 2nd term.

Excuse me..I said excuse me, but what does God need with a 2nd term?


7 posted on 04/04/2012 12:00:35 AM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (Someday our schools will teach the difference between lose and loose.)
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

LOL


8 posted on 04/04/2012 12:03:58 AM PDT by U-238
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

It’s pretty simple to me how black holes grow....a star becomes so massive that it’s escape velocity becomes greater or equal to the speed of light....so everything that gets added to its gravity field makes it stronger? That’s what I’ve always assumed.


9 posted on 04/04/2012 12:43:40 AM PDT by IamCenny
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To: IamCenny

From what I understand it then reaches a singularity and then evaporates and disappears which I never understood. How can it evaporate if nothing can escape? What I would be interested in is if it could tear the fabric of spacetime.


10 posted on 04/04/2012 1:10:49 AM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (Someday our schools will teach the difference between lose and loose.)
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To: U-238
Just what we need... another maudlin biopic about Moochelle Obama...

LMAO!!!!

8^D

11 posted on 04/04/2012 3:10:41 AM PDT by Gargantua ("Ich bein eine Breitbart")
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To: U-238

12 posted on 04/04/2012 3:19:42 AM PDT by Daffynition (Our forefathers would be shooting by now.)
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To: Gargantua
What do you mean? She mingles with the stars. Just wow!


13 posted on 04/04/2012 3:24:55 AM PDT by Daffynition (Our forefathers would be shooting by now.)
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To: U-238

The jokes just write themselves, however we have our fellow esteemed FReepers to assure us of an entertaining thread...lol


14 posted on 04/04/2012 3:44:02 AM PDT by mkjessup (0bama squats to pee.)
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To: U-238
How black holes grow

Sheila Jackson Lee

Sheila Jackson Lee

Sheila Jackson Lee

Sheila Jackson Lee


15 posted on 04/04/2012 4:00:48 AM PDT by Roccus
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

Evaporates? If it evaporates, how is there anything there...I suppose it could just tear a hole in space that everything get’s sucked into who knows where....kind of like universal drain plugs. Or which I think is more likely, black holes ARE STARS, and they do produce light, but we can’t see it....because the light cannot escape the gravity of the black hole, thus no light.


16 posted on 04/04/2012 5:41:27 AM PDT by IamCenny
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda
-- How can it evaporate if nothing can escape? --

Two ways. One is always present as a quantum effect. The term "fuzzy black holes" means to conjure this up. At the edge, some particles will appear "on the other side" even though that contradicts classical physics.

The other mechanism is losing mass by losing energy by radiating heat into space. Not possible "today" (whatever "today" means on a cosmic scale) because the cosmic background radiation is still "too hot."

17 posted on 04/04/2012 5:52:44 AM PDT by Cboldt
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To: Daffynition
That's a "star?"!!

Looks more like a skeleton with a wig and a prom dress. Go figure, huh?!

8^D

18 posted on 04/04/2012 8:29:49 AM PDT by Gargantua ("Ich bein eine Breitbart")
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To: U-238; Las Vegas Dave; AdmSmith; bvw; callisto; ckilmer; dandelion; ganeshpuri89; gobucks; ...

Thanks U-238 and Las Vegas Dave.


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19 posted on 04/06/2012 12:12:58 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FReepathon 2Q time -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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To: U-238
A study led by a University of Utah astrophysicist found a new explanation for the growth of supermassive black holes in the center of most galaxies: They repeatedly capture and swallow single stars from pairs of stars that wander too close.
Okay this is it. Cut off their Grant Money now and buy them a TV and Cable access.

This was on the Science Channel months ago.
(and I think that was a re-run!)

20 posted on 04/07/2012 3:56:30 AM PDT by Condor51 (Yo Hoffa, so you want to 'take out conservatives'. Well okay Jr - I'm your Huckleberry)
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