Posted on 01/06/2005 11:27:25 AM PST by snarks_when_bored
The eruption, which has lasted for more than 100 million years, has generated energy equivalent to hundreds of millions of gamma-ray bursts.
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"I was stunned to find that a mass of about 300 million suns was swallowed," said Brian McNamara of Ohio University in Athens. "This is as large as another super massive black hole."
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Gas is being pushed away from the black hole at supersonic speeds over a distance of about a million light-years. The mass of the displaced gas equals about a trillion suns, more than the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way.
Shakespeare could not have conceived that such objects might exist when he allowed his Hamlet to utter these famous lines:
There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
The super-massive black hole described in this article is beyond Horatio's (and Shakespeare's) wildest possible dream, but, for us, it's wide-awake reality.
Ping
I still say it is Bush's fault...
OK, who fed Michael Moore the baked beans?
Most Powerful Eruption in the Universe Discovered
OK, who fed Michael Moore the baked beans?
You beat me to it. I was going to say taco bell, though.
The UN is forming a team to provide aid as we speak. This eruption is a result of global warming on Earth. And it's Bush's fault.
Oh, and the Western Nations are being stingy.
Thanks. I was too busy with the post (and some work) to do a search. Should have.
I thought black holes swallowed everything, including energy and gas. So how is it that this black hole is responsible for an explosion with gas streaming away from it, and with so much gamma radiation?
Let me guess.....
Michael Moore's Flatulence !!!!
It's swallowed around 300 million stars. But there are terrifically powerful, swirling magnetic field lines surrounding black holes, lines which channel highly energized gas around and away from the holes.
No problem. Some posters also don't know how to post images, so I try to grab 'em when that occurs. It's a cool photo, though. The universe is a pretty amazing place, eh?
How far away is this from us? Follow up questions. When did it happen? Is it still goin on?
Ping
Michael Moore is in his own universe.
I thought this was another Barbara Boxer thread.
She makes me so proud to be a Californian </sarcasm>
Seriously, this in interesting. I'll check it out when I have more time.
I am just curious here, and I am certainly not a physicist or an astronomer, but based on the very watered down suggestions of string theory... that our entire universe is on a membrane and that all we percieve is tied to that same membrane... and that Gravity is a force that is for whatever NOT tied to this membrane, and therefore is a relatively weak force in our experience compared to other forces....
Could black holes be nothing more than what may be nothing but a relatively small amount of gravitons that have for one reason or another gotten "stuck" to the membrane, or some cascading effect that causes gravitons to become stuck, exponentially increasing their influence ?
I would assume that these possibilities have been thought of by someone far more versed and smarter than I, but I am curious.
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