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A Real Whopper: Black Hole Is Most Massive Known (M87 - HUGHer by 2 or 3 times than speculated)
Space.com ^
| 6/8/09
| Andrea Thompson
Posted on 06/08/2009 4:34:19 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
PASADENA, CALIF. The most massive black hole yet weighed lurks at the heart of the relatively nearby giant galaxy M87.
The supermassive black hole is two to three times heftier than previously thought, a new model showed, weighing in at a whopping 6.4 billion times the mass of the sun. The new measure suggests that other black holes in nearby large galaxies could also be much heftier than current measurements suggest, and it could help astronomers solve a longstanding puzzle about galaxy development.
"We did not expect it at all," said team member Karl Gebhardt of the University of Texas at Austin.
The discovery was announced here today at the 214th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
Game changer
The finding "is important for how black holes relate to galaxies," said team member Jens Thomas of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany. "If you change the mass of the black hole, you change how the black hole relates to the galaxy."
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; Chit/Chat; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; blackhole; catastrophism; massive; science; stringtheory; whopper; xplanets
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This composite of visible (or optical), radio, and X-ray data reveals the giant elliptical galaxy M87. Credit: NASA/CXC/CfA/W. Forman et al./NRAO/AUI/NSF/W. Cotton;/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and R. Gendler
2
posted on
06/08/2009 4:36:41 PM PDT
by
NormsRevenge
(Semper Fi ... Godspeed.)
To: NormsRevenge
3
posted on
06/08/2009 4:38:21 PM PDT
by
Shaun_MD
(Velius In Evidens Visum)
To: NormsRevenge
Now we must figure how to get them to eat liberals.
4
posted on
06/08/2009 4:38:42 PM PDT
by
bmwcyle
(Obama is an illegal alien)
To: NormsRevenge
...a whopping 6.4 billion times the mass of the sun Somehow I don't think those inside The Beltway would be impressed.
To: NormsRevenge
"The supermassive black hole is two to three times heftier than previously thought, a new model showed, weighing in at a whopping 6.4 billion times the mass of the sun." For comparison, the black hole believed to be at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy is estimated to be about 3 million times as massive as the Sun.
6
posted on
06/08/2009 4:40:30 PM PDT
by
ETL
(ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
To: bmwcyle
Now we must figure how to get them to eat liberals. Might be hard since liberals don't have any "substance" (mass).
7
posted on
06/08/2009 4:42:37 PM PDT
by
ETL
(ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
To: NormsRevenge
This is Hugh and Series! I'm cereal, I'm super cereal! In fact, this may indicate that ManBearPig is bigger than we suspected, too!
ManBearPig: half man, half bear, half pig - all terror!
8
posted on
06/08/2009 4:45:28 PM PDT
by
PugetSoundSoldier
(Indignation over the sting of truth is the defense of the indefensible)
To: ETL
Bump the “m” off that last word and you have what they have ALOT of.
9
posted on
06/08/2009 4:48:50 PM PDT
by
Darksheare
(Tar is cheap, and feathers are plentiful.)
To: NormsRevenge
Guess I’m not going to be moving to M87 anytime soon.
10
posted on
06/08/2009 4:48:57 PM PDT
by
Psycho_Bunny
(ALSO SPRACH ZEROTHUSTRA)
To: NormsRevenge
"HUGHER"?
I'm hoping this is one of the old FR jokes.
11
posted on
06/08/2009 4:57:28 PM PDT
by
CaptRon
To: NormsRevenge
This could be series. BTT.
To: ETL
They may have no substance but they do have plenty of mass...
13
posted on
06/08/2009 4:58:44 PM PDT
by
ejonesie22
(Mitt Romney is a more subtle version of Arlen Specter with better hair...)
To: ejonesie22
Lol! Good point!
Thanks (i think). Yuck! :)
14
posted on
06/08/2009 5:00:54 PM PDT
by
ETL
(ALL the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
To: NormsRevenge
"If you change the mass of the black hole, you change how the black hole relates to the galaxy." Ya think? ... Ya mean a ten inch drain will suck out pool water faster than a four inch drain?
15
posted on
06/08/2009 5:03:09 PM PDT
by
MHGinTN
(Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
To: NormsRevenge
...weighing in at a whopping 6.4 billion times the mass of the sun. "Does this singularity make me look fat?"
16
posted on
06/08/2009 5:04:08 PM PDT
by
6SJ7
(atlasShruggedInd: ON)
To: ejonesie22
17
posted on
06/08/2009 5:04:13 PM PDT
by
o2bfree
To: TexasCajun; NormsRevenge
>>
...a whopping 6.4 billion times the mass of the sun0
> Somehow I don't think those inside The Beltway would be impressed.
You're right... 6.4 billion is nothing. Now, maybe 64 billion, maybe.... 640 billion, good chance.
But you really have to get into the TRILLIONS before those Washington b@$t@rd$ start to pay attention...
18
posted on
06/08/2009 5:04:39 PM PDT
by
dayglored
(Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government!)
To: NormsRevenge
“A Real Whopper”
I’ll have onion rings with that?
19
posted on
06/08/2009 5:05:25 PM PDT
by
Darksheare
(Tar is cheap, and feathers are plentiful.)
To: NormsRevenge
20
posted on
06/08/2009 5:06:16 PM PDT
by
abb
("What ISN'T in the news is often more important than what IS." Ed Biersmith, 1942 -)
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