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The most luminous galaxy is being torn apart by a black hole
cbs news ^ | 1-18-2016 | BRIAN MASTROIANNI

Posted on 01/18/2016 9:03:18 AM PST by Citizen Zed

The galaxy, which is called W2246-0526 and 12.4 billion light years from Earth, is the most luminous in the universe, according to a 2015 NASA study. If all galaxies were the same distance from us, this one would shine the brightest. In new research, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, this shiniest of galaxies is expelling incredibly turbulent gases, which has never been evidenced in this kind of space body before.

"It is like a pot of boiling water being heated up by a nuclear reactor in the center," Tanio Diaz-Santos of the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile, lead author of a new study about this galaxy, said in a press release.

The galaxy is essentially self-cannibilizing, tearing itself apart, according to Roberto Assef, astronomer with the Universidad Diego Portales and leader of the observing team at the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.

"The momentum and energy of the particles of light deposited in the gas are so great that they are pushing the gas out in all directions," Assef added.

The research team detected large amounts of ionized carbon that were in a "turbulent state" flowing through the galaxy. What is causing this disturbance? A supermassive black hole resides at the galaxy's center, pulling together swirling gases and other matter to create an object known as an accretion disk. This disk causes friction that produces a level of brightness that equals that of 300 trillion suns combined.

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


TOPICS: Astronomy; Chit/Chat; Science
KEYWORDS: blackhole; galaxy
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1 posted on 01/18/2016 9:03:18 AM PST by Citizen Zed
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To: Citizen Zed

As above, so below — Hermes Trismegistus


2 posted on 01/18/2016 9:04:17 AM PST by ClearCase_guy (I don't know what Claire Wolfe is thinking but I know what I am thinking.)
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To: Citizen Zed

Black Holes Matter ...


3 posted on 01/18/2016 9:04:33 AM PST by 11th_VA
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To: Citizen Zed

Probably caused by global warming.


4 posted on 01/18/2016 9:05:05 AM PST by boycott (--)
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To: 11th_VA
Black Holes Matter ...

Black holes destroy matter.

5 posted on 01/18/2016 9:05:33 AM PST by DungeonMaster
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To: Citizen Zed

You beat me to it. Great one!


6 posted on 01/18/2016 9:07:06 AM PST by Mouton (The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)
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To: Citizen Zed

Isaiah 34:4
The sun, moon, and stars will crumble to dust. The sky will disappear like a scroll being rolled up, and the stars will fall like leaves dropping from a vine or a fig tree.


7 posted on 01/18/2016 9:10:33 AM PST by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. - Psalm 33:12)
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To: 11th_VA

More like, Black Holes Anti-matter.


8 posted on 01/18/2016 9:12:01 AM PST by fwdude
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To: Citizen Zed

Is 12.4 billion years enough time for a black hole to consume or at least to totally mess up a galaxy? If so, perhaps we are having a conversation about some has-been Galaxy that has nothing left but a bunch of photons steaming through space, a few of which happen to be striking our telescopes.;)


9 posted on 01/18/2016 9:12:17 AM PST by InterceptPoint
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To: Citizen Zed

“The research team detected large amounts of ionized carbon that were in a “turbulent state” flowing through the galaxy.”

Turbulent, ionized gas, eh? In other words a plasma, a word that cosmologists seem afraid to use, maybe because that would suggest other forces could be driving it instead of a “black hole”.


10 posted on 01/18/2016 9:14:35 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Citizen Zed
And, close to the BlackHole David Axlerod is getting his nose hairs trimmed:


11 posted on 01/18/2016 9:15:11 AM PST by Slyfox (Ted Cruz does not need the presidency - the presidency needs Ted Cruz)
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To: DungeonMaster

Matter is neither created or destroyed (at least not by anything in this universe).


12 posted on 01/18/2016 9:15:34 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Slyfox

OMG. Who gets their nose hairs trimmed in public? And, worse, in a place where cameras are likely to capture the moment for posterity?


13 posted on 01/18/2016 9:17:04 AM PST by TontoKowalski (Satisfied Customer #291)
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To: InterceptPoint

Yep. By the time you get there, it won’t be there.


14 posted on 01/18/2016 9:17:42 AM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: Boogieman
Matter is neither created or destroyed (at least not by anything in this universe).

That's not exactly right. What about matter consumed by fusion?

15 posted on 01/18/2016 9:17:53 AM PST by DungeonMaster
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To: DungeonMaster
Black holes destroy matter.

I wonder if there's a limit on the amount of matter that can be contained at the center of a black hole. Perhaps too much matter will cause it to explode. Maybe that is how the universe itself started via the Big Bang?

16 posted on 01/18/2016 9:25:06 AM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better, safer America)
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To: Citizen Zed

12 billion years back in time. The universe is 14.5 years old. What we see happening is over and done. It could be a garden spot now.


17 posted on 01/18/2016 9:26:16 AM PST by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: DungeonMaster

#blackholesmatter.


18 posted on 01/18/2016 9:28:11 AM PST by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Slyfox

I kind of thought that was Axlerod getting his nose
ring installed by Valerie Jarret.


19 posted on 01/18/2016 9:29:35 AM PST by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: ETL
I wonder if there's a limit on the amount of matter that can be contained at the center of a black hole. Perhaps too much matter will cause it to explode. Maybe that is how the universe itself started via the Big Bang?

I've been interested in astronomy for 43ish years but only recently learned that there is not a bunch of super dense matter in the center of a black hole. The matter is crushed down to nothing, zero volume, and all that remains is the gravity. The concept is just amazing and fascinating. There are some differences between black holes with spin and without that I don't get but the gravity seems capable of destroying all the matter you feed them.

I'm no longer a believer in the big bang theory.

20 posted on 01/18/2016 9:33:16 AM PST by DungeonMaster
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