Frightening image
Posted on 05/28/2009 5:03:36 PM PDT by antiunion person
Astronomers are getting a close-up look at a cosmic eating machine: a spinning black hole that devours the mass equivalent of two Earths per hour, verging on the limit of its feeding ability. Supermassive black holes can weigh as much as a billion suns or more and are thought to reside at the centers of most, if not all, large galaxies. Their gravity is so powerful it traps even light, making black holes invisible. Their presence is inferred by watching the motions of stars and gas around them, along with the radiation that's generated in their frenzied vicinities. The behemoth of interest in the new close-up study, which will be published in the May 28 issue of the journal Nature, lies at the center of a distant active galaxy known as 1H0707-495. Using data from the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton observatory, astronomers analyzed X-rays emitted during the black hole's feeding frenzy. As matter swirls in toward a black hole, gravity makes it travel at significant fractions of light-speed. That generates X-rays and other radiation that can give astronomers information about the spin of the black hole and its size, among other details. In this case, the astronomers say they are tracking matter that's within twice the radius of the black hole itself. Specifically, the XMM-Newton detections suggested the galaxy's core is much richer in iron than the rest of the galaxy. In addition, there was a time lag of 30 seconds between changes in the X-ray light observed directly and those seen in its reflection from the disk. From this delay, the astronomers estimate the black hole weighs about 3 million to 5 million solar masses – modest by supermassive black hole standards.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
A vision of Al Sharpton eating lucnh flashed through my mind as I read the headline.
If somebody just bought it a nice digital camera it wouldn’t be forced to permanently trap all of that stuff in it’s event horizon.
Good comparisons. When I was reading the story I was thinking to myself, what is more frightening the fate we face with this administration and the economic situation or the fate of being swallowed up by a black hole years down the road. Both scenarios are doomed situations!
LOL!
The Obama administration; the black hole in the center of the US economy.
I saw Oprah yelling at a microwave oven too hurry up
Frightening image
You left a letter and a dash out before the word "hole."
XMM-Newton takes astronomers to a black hole’s edge
(swallowing equivalent of two Earths per hour)
European Space Agency | 5/27/09 | ESA
Posted on 05/27/2009 12:26:10 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2259254/posts
“Supermassive black holes are why we should all give humble and hearty thanks for the inverse-square law.”
That is, whenever you repeat the distance from a black hole, its gravity is one over its square. This means that at 1 distance, say its gravity is “2”, then at twice that difference, its gravity is only 1/4th as strong, and at three time that distance, its gravity is only 1/16th as strong.
And remember, gravity is the weakest of the four fundamental interactions in the universe. But as the wits like to point out:
“Gravity Sucks”.
Thanks alot. That is not a sight anyone needs to see and not toss their cookies. Even without the food hanging out of his mouth, this a**hole is a disgusting site.
He reminds me of a cadence we used to used sing when running/marching in the Army. Can't remember it exactly by something like, turds float and all you need is a net to scoop them out. Loses alot in translation but was funny as hell and fit this turd to a tee.
That was my reaction when I saw the title.
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