Blazing Speed: The Fastest Stuff in the Universe

Space.com ^ | January 18, 2005 | Robert Roy Britt

[billorites]

SAN DIEGO -- If you're light, it's fairly easy to travel at your own speed -- that is to say 186,282 miles per second or 299,800 kilometers per second.

But if you are matter, then it's another matter altogether.

Nothing we know of zips along more quickly than light. Einstein, nearly 100 years ago, said it's not possible. For us, the speed limit makes strange sense: Go faster than light, and you could return before you've left, become your own grandpa, or perform other leaps of cosmic logic.

Fast forward a century. Astronomers are now measuring stuff -- material, matter, things -- that moves at so close to the speed of light you might think it'd make Einstein a bit nervous. His theory of relativity appears not to be endangered by the blazing speeds, though.

Among thee speed demons of the universe are Jupiter-sized blobs of hot gas embedded in streams of material ejected from hyperactive galaxies known as blazars. Last week at a meeting here of the American Astronomical Society, scientists announced they had measured blobs in blazar jets screaming through space at 99.9 percent of light-speed.

"This tells us that the physical processes at the cores of these galaxies … are extremely energetic and are capable of propelling matter very close to the absolute cosmic speed limit," said Glenn Piner of Whittier College in Whittier, California.

Ponder the power of the fast moving superheated gas, known as plasma:

"To accelerate a bowling ball to the speed newly measured in these blazars would require all the energy produced in the world for an entire week," Piner said. "And the blobs of plasma in these jets are at least as massive as a large planet."

The blazar jets are running around the universe in some fast company. Slightly faster, in fact.

In another study presented at the meeting, ultra high-energy cosmic rays thought to originate in a collision of galaxy clusters are slamming into Earth's atmosphere at more than 99.9 percent of the speed of light. Measurements put the number at 99.9 followed by 19 more nines -- about as close to light-speed as you can get without splitting hairs.

The particles are not light, but actual matter. They are tiny, thought to be mostly protons, but the energy that motivates them is similarly fantastic, and the mechanisms may be intertwined.

Scientists still don't know the exact mechanisms involved in accelerating matter to such high speeds, however. In the case of a blazars, it appears a black hole is involved. Anchoring an active galaxy, a supermassive black hole draws gas inward. Some is swallowed, yet some is simply accelerated and then ejected in high-speed jets along the galaxy's axis of rotation. Intense, twisted magnetic fields may play a role.

Some ultra high-energy cosmic rays might originate in blazar jets, Piner told SPACE.com. But other phenomena may serve as particle accelerators in space, such as merging galaxies or colliding black holes.

Piner and his colleagues observed three blazars, known from previous observations to be super speedy, using the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array radio observatory.

The results confirm the previous work and pin down the speeds with greater accuracy. The phenomenal pace of the plasma blobs looks to have reached a limit.

"All the results from blazar jet observations are in agreement with Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity," Piner said. "The jets are accelerated right up to the edge of the speed-of-light barrier but not beyond, even though these are some of the most efficient accelerators in the universe."

[patton]

The math does not say that one cannot exceed the speed of light - it says that one cannot come back.

[defenderoftheflag]

I'd hate to have a super-heated Jupiter sized blob of plasma hit my spaceshuttle.

[Mark was here]

I heard a rumor that things can not be accelerated past the speed of light, but they can be created going faster than the speed of light.

[Question_Assumptions]

From what I remember of the equations, several numbers approach infinity or 0 at the speed of light, including energy, mass, and the flow of time. Any of those limits is sufficient to make the speed of light a barrier that's impossible to achieve, never mind cross, without skipping across space.

[IronJack]

I was under the impression that matter accelerated to the velocity of light became energy, i.e., that there is a given amount of energy in any given amount of matter.

[Yardstick]

A nicely written scientific article.

[Centurion2000]

Blazars ?

Star Blazars to come ?

[patton]

No, it becomes imaginary.

A great cosmic math joke.

Can you find a razorblade edge-on in the infinite universe?

See, if you go there, you ain't coming back.

[reagan_fanatic]

Among thee speed demons of the universe are Jupiter-sized blobs of hot gas embedded in streams of material ejected from hyperactive galaxies known as blazars

Yea, and about 35 years ago Scientists discovered a Jupiter-sized blob of hot gas emerging from a Buick at the bottom of Chappaquiddick.

[LowInMo]

This is assuming the functions are correct. I have an old computer (about 1850) that has equations on it that say we cannot go faster than the speed of sound and it is physically impossible for a man to run a mile in less than four minutes. Please refer back to your screen name. :-)
I do not understand why we cannot appear to be in one place when we are actually just a few seconds from there just as we can be heard somewhere when we are actually just a few seconds from there. Please enlighten me.

[NJ_gent]

"The math does not say that one cannot exceed the speed of light - it says that one cannot come back."

Not really - it says that matter cannot accelerate in a linear fashion across the threshold of c from either direction. The energy required for acceleration approaches infinity as you approach c, as do other things. What it does not say is that you can't have matter traveling faster than light. So long as it's always been traveling faster than light and always will travel faster than light, the math works out just fine (ok, a little odd, but it still functions). Tachyons, as such particles of matter are called, have never been observed to my knowledge in the few experiments that have attempted to detect them. What really gets weird is how time factors in with the equations at and above c. It's definitely some really neat stuff though. :-)

[bondserv]

I thought you might find this interesting.

[spodefly]

If something was moving faster than the speed of light, could we see it?

[patton]

Non-linear. Immaginary. Nummeri ficti. Quasi-linear.

As I said, you ain't coming back...

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Last week at a meeting here of the American Astronomical Society, scientists announced they had measured blobs in blazar jets screaming through space at 99.9 percent of light-speed.

That's old tube technology. Galaxies are going to need to update to plasma screens or liquid crystal displays. /smart-a$$

[MeanWestTexan]

I believe this stuff "only" gets to 99.99% the speed of light, so the issue is dodged.

[NorCalRepub]

kind of like string theory as opposed to Einsteins universe. Lots of weird and crazy sh** happening out there....

[UCANSEE2]

That is what DARK MATTER is. It is some of the earliest particles from the creation of the universe.


The farther away from us, the faster they go. Some have exceeded the speed of light, and are going the speed of dark. That is another reason we don't know the true size of the universe. Most of it is going the speed of dark and can't be seen.

[Vaquero]

Head for those Jupiter-sized blobs of hot gas embedded in streams of material ejected from hyperactive galaxies known as blazars. Make it so Number 2!