"Black hole found in ancient lair"

[handbook]

thought you GOM folks might like this

A black hole has been found inside a compact group of ancient stars known as a globular cluster.
Astronomers say the discovery is interesting because many doubted black holes could exist in such locations.

Some computer simulations had suggested a newly formed black hole would simply be ejected from the cluster as a result of gravitational interactions.

Tom Maccarone, of the University of Southampton (UK), and colleagues report the finding in the journal Nature.

It was made using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton satellite, with follow-up observations on the US space agency's Chandra Space Telescope - both are sensitive to the X-ray light that is emitted when gas consumed by a black hole is torn apart.

The international team says its work provides the first convincing evidence that some black holes might not only survive but grow and flourish in globular clusters.

In between

What has astonished the scientists is how quickly the black hole was found.

"We were preparing for a long, systematic search of thousands of globular clusters with the hope of finding just one black hole," said Dr Maccarone. "But bingo, we found one as soon as we started the search. It was only the second globular cluster we looked at."

The black hole is located in a globular cluster associated with a galaxy named NGC 4472, some 55 million light-years away.

Globular clusters are among the oldest structures in the Universe. They contain thousands to millions of stars packed into a region of space just a few tens of light-years across.

These high densities should lead to frequent interactions and even collisions; and some models have suggested that large black holes - several hundred times the mass of our Sun - could develop in the densest inner regions of clusters.

Other simulations, however, predict that such gravitational interplay would probably eject most or all of the black holes that form in such an environment.

The team is uncertain about the size of the NGC 4472 hole; but if it is reasonably large - and one interpretation of the X-ray data suggests it could be 400 times the mass of our Sun - it might have been able to anchor itself in the cluster, said co-author Arunav Kundu of Michigan State University, US.

"This is one of the interesting aspects of this study," he told BBC News.

"People have seen stellar-sized black holes that form from [an exploded] star, and then there are the super-massive black holes at the centres of galaxies that are millions of times the mass of our Sun - but there's nothing in between.

"Some people expect that globular clusters might be the environment where you would see intermediate-mass black holes."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6231623.stm

 

[enserio]

They need to send something throught that shit and see what happens.




For what, I don't know.

 

[2-0-Sixx]

^^Yeah, we should send Stockton there immediately. If we do it now, and we can somehow send him in some sort of spaceship that can travel the speed of light, he will reach the black hole in 55 million years.

 

[Hutch]

lol. Perhaps we can develop a machine which can move faster than the speed of light (although theoretically impossible under todays physics paradigm). That way, the traveller can arrive at the destination before they even leave! Stockton could make it there yesterday!

I'm familiar with black holes and their physics, but I found it strange that the authors would suggest that "Some computer simulations had suggested a newly formed black hole would simply be ejected from the cluster as a result of gravitational interactions". I assumed that, being supermassive, the black holes would simply stay where they were and gobble up all the surrounding stars. The concept of the black hole being ejected is foreign to me. Oh well, I'm sure they know a lot more about astrophysics than I do! Good read handbook, cheers.

 

[enserio]

Anybody remember that 70's movie "The Black Hole"? What happened when they went into it?

And, what's the difference between a black hole and a wormhole?

(not a joke, I want a real answer)

 

[Lamberto Quintero]

^^Yeah, we should send Stockton there immediately. If we do it now, and we can somehow send him in some sort of spaceship that can travel the speed of light, he will reach the black hole in 55 million years.

lmao, this is what came to mind when i read enserio´s post too.

 

[nhojsmith]

heres some anecdotal shit for the GOM and people who actually take the time to read threads not about foreign policy and religion:

if the history of the universe, about 12 billion years lets say, was condensed to a one year long calendar, the dawn of man only occured in the last few minutes of the last day of the year (almost midnight on Dec 31).

once you begin to think on this level, foreign policy and religion are pretty hilarious.

 

[ParkBoyz]

I'm familiar with black holes and their physics, but I found it strange that the authors would suggest that "Some computer simulations had suggested a newly formed black hole would simply be ejected from the cluster as a result of gravitational interactions". I assumed that, being supermassive, the black holes would simply stay where they were and gobble up all the surrounding stars. The concept of the black hole being ejected is foreign to me.

I know! I was like wtf? That's practically almost common knowledge that a Black Hole is massive and that nothing (not even light) can escape its gravitational force. How is it that a black hole (that came from a Super Nova) can be ejected from a star cluster, rather than sucking it in?

 

[I AM]

interesting read...but what i think is funny, is that what they are seeing, is what? 55 years old, or 55 million years old? I can't remember what amount it converts to....but what they see probably isn't what is there now...

 

[Hemp]

@parkboyz its probably just a cluster of dense gas or some shit.
i always wonder how astronomers can find out so much shit when everything looks like a flat 2d picture of dots.
i mean i know some they can tell by the color of the direction of the galaxy but how can they tell which chemical is on there, and all about it?

 

[ParkBoyz]

but how can they tell which chemical is on there, and all about it?

Well I'm 99% sure that they do that by observing the spectrum of the light that it reflects(the chemicals/gas).. Each gas has different emission lines that are unique, so when you study the lines through a spectrometer, all one has to do is match those lines up with already known gases.

 

[Dark Shadow]

And, what's the difference between a black hole and a wormhole?

(not a joke, I want a real answer)

Black hole takes in whatever is too close and destroy it and wormhole is basically a portal. the links will explain it better. there was an episode of the simpson where homer went from their world to ours, like that would be consider a wormhole also.