Milky Way's Center Packed with Black Holes
 

Maybe i'm the only one interested in this stuff and should stop posting things about space. If thats the case plaese inform me.
[img]http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/images/content/105283main_gctr_bin_comp_720x869.jpg[/img]

SAN DIEGO -- A new study reveals that the center of our Milky Way Galaxy is loaded with black holes, as astronomers have expected in recent years.

The galactic center is dominated by one supermassive black hole. It packs a mass equal to about 3 million Suns. Around it, scientists have expected to find a high concentration of stellar black holes, the sort that result from the collapse of massive stars. Each can be a few to many times the mass of the Sun.

Observations have hinted at the existence of many stellar black holes near the galactic center. But nosing around there is hard, because the region is shrouded in dust. Visible light doesn't escape the region.

The ongoing study, led by UCLA postdoctoral fellow Michael Muno, is searching the inner 75-light-years of the galaxy with the NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. X-rays conveniently pierce interstellar dust.

Muno and his colleagues have found strong evidence for seven black holes (they could be neutron stars, which are also very dense). Importantly, four of the objects were concentrated in the inner 3 light-years of space around the supermassive black hole.

"The observed high concentration of these sources implies that a huge number of black holes and neutron stars have gathered in the center of the galaxy," Muno said.

Extrapolating to the whole sky, the finding suggest a swarm of 10,000 black holes and neutron stars orbit near the galaxy's middle.

A theory by UCLA's Mark Morris, co-researcher on the new project, predicted the concentration back in 1993. Dense objects like black holes interact gravitationally with less dense stars. The lighter stars tend to get jettisoned outward, Morris figured, while the black holes slow down on their orbital trek around the galactic center, and they sink inward.

The black holes can't be seen directly. Those that are detected have likely taken a companion, a normal star that they devour gradually, the theorists figure. The extended feast also involves a release of X-rays as gas from the normal star is superheated until it glows before plunging beyond the point of no return.

The findings were reported here at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. More research is needed to confirm the conclusions, the scientists said.

http://space.com/scienceastronomy/aas_g ... 50111.html

fucking a I thought this was gonna be about a new candy bar with choco chips inside of it..


FUCK THE UNIVERSE! mad: mad: mad:

i'd say thats fairly close. i didn't read the whole thing but how is this affecting out solar system?

It packs a mass equal to about 3 million Suns. ed:

We wouldn't be here without it. Basicall everything orbits around this thing. Every galaxy will have a supermassive black hole, and probably thousands of other black holes in the center. Without these black holes, nothing would stay in place, and basically life anywhere in the universe would really not be all that possible.

ninty9 whats your sigg all about?

i dont think we have much to worry about, everyone will be dead by the time the milky way collapses on itself. in about 50 billion years our sun will run out of hydrogen and suck every planet in our solar system into itself and become a black hole.

Next Encounter
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ESA Huygens Probe
Titan Descent
Jan. 14, 2005
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Countdown:
2 DAYS
10 HRS
19 MIN
41 SEC

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/p ... 41221b.pdf

The Huygens probe will land on the surface of Titan, which is the largest moon of Saturn, on Friday and it will relay back info about the surface and atmosphere for about 30minutes I believe before the equipment stops working. Titan resembles very closley the early earth, so we can learn a lot about how we came to be on our earth. I'm also holding out a sliver of hope that there will be some form of mircoscopic life on the surface. The atmosphere is made up of Nitrogen, just like the Earths, and the surface is thought to contain many liquids, however, there is no liquid water because it's only 95 kelvin on the surface, which is really cold.

The sun is about 4.5 billion years old and will continue to burn hydrogen for about 5 billion more years. Then it'll begin to go to red giant stage, and eventually a white dwarf.

Our universe is 10-20 billion years old. The big bang happened somewhere between that time.

And I don't even think the milky way will collapse on itself. We just never really knew for sure what was at the center of a galaxy. Everyone assumed a black hole, cause it makes sense, but there was never any proof. Now I suppose this is a bit of proof.

Today, two friends and I were talking about how the universe is expanding... in Taco Bell.

I thought it was going to be about African-American Vuurginuurs. ed:

I wonder if god lives in the center of the milky way, like they showed in one of the old star trek movies *shakes head* That movie was an insult to star trek. loney:

[quote="Sergeant_Scrotum":0fe22]I wonder if god lives in the center of the milky way, like they showed in one of the old star trek movies *shakes head* That movie was an insult to star trek. loney:[/quote:0fe22]KHAAAAAAAAAAN. spank:

Well isnt it possible we are heading towards the black hole?