From Daily TechThe Milky Way’s black hole is causing a mess, but isn’t gobbling matter as fast as was thought
One of the most complex and intriguing astrophysical phenomenon is the supermassive black hole. A superdense cluster of mass, the supermassive black hole gobbles up surrounding matter, sucking it into its gravity well. Despite the tremendous importance of these celestial bodies to the structure of our universe, scientists still remain confused about specifics of how they operate.
Supermassive black holes help to shape our universe, but their behavior is still poorly understood
. (Source: PureInsight.org)
It is a well known fact that there is a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Dubbed Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the black hole is rather weak, due to its inability to successfully capture significant mass. The black hole is bordered by dozens of young stars. It pulls gas off these stars, but is only able to suck in a small percentage of this high velocity stream.
Past estimates put its consumption rate at a mere 1 percent of the gas it pulls away from the stars. Now a new study, using data garnered from the NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, has determined that the black hole is likely eating far less than that figure even — new models indicate it to be consuming a mere 0.01 percent of the gas it sucks off.
Read the rest of the story here.
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where? I can’t see it…
There are no black holes. But there are supermassive neutron stars.
Repulsive forces between neutrons prevent the collapse of a neutron star into a black hole.
With kind regards,
Oliver K. Manuel
Back Hole not eating right. Global Warming blue in the face. I see a pattern here…
So how is this worse than we thought?
I’ll be ok to book a holiday this summer then?
I think that is where climate theories go to die.
First thought: Now why does this remind me of the Federal budget?
Second thought: Carbon capture!
All kidding aside, thanks for posting this story. We live in a universe full of wonder.
Whew!
Quick! Send Gordon ‘Flat earth’ Brown, Obama, Kevin Rudd and the rest of them off to investigate…..
Just another turn in the endless cosmological debate.
Unfortunately for Climate, it has been frozen into a ‘settled’ state, and the debate is likewise arbitrarily stifled (The politcally correct word is ‘polarized’) .
I am bit sceptical about this entire business of the black holes. I hope not another ‘fixation’ of the top scientist perpetrated on the simpleminded ‘flateEarthers’ like myself.
Over to you.
In school I was fascinated by gravitation enough to take Diff Geometry, and the Gravitation. Based on what DG was indicating, any singularity connects to another Riemann surface. So with multiple singularities, how many Riemann surfaces are there? In the real world, so to speak, are there other spaces connected to ours via the singularity portals? Is that the source of the Dark Matter that vexes astronomer so much? Curvature in this space time caused by lumps in another space time.
It was fun to speculate.
new models indicate it to be consuming a mere 0.01 percent of the gas it sucks off.
“new models sucks.” Fixed, as in AGW. I’m just in that kind of mood today. :~P
Black hole denialist!
Next you’ll be claiming there’s no upper limit to black hole carbon sequestration.
Looks like I’m not the only one who’s eating less for the New Year!
“It is a well known fact that there is a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.”
Is it? Well known? You’d very likely get blank stares from most people on the street if you said that to them.
Tell them the climate’s not warming and they’re all over that.
So we will have enough time to evacuate this galaxy and head off to the next?
Great news to hear!
Obviously somebody has to be taxed to fix this problem.
This is a really good story for illustrating the ‘observation vs faith in models’ problem. The more accurate summary than that presented in the article is that over the past decade it has been observed that Sgr A* is weaker in X-ray frequencies than most central black holes. The mystery has been why does Sgr A* appear so weak in the X-ray. The error was in the modelling not the observations. With the correction of the radiation pressure term, Sgr A* is now seen to be behaving as one would expect a mature central black hole to behave – more slowly accreting stellar wind material than a younger more active central black hole.
They just don’t make ’em like they used to, eh?
Why, when I were a lad they ‘ad proper black holes, fearsome things. Disney even made a film, it had killer robots and everything, the ones ‘ya see now are like kittens.
‘snot the same anymore…
A prediction of global warming is the black hole will slow down. This validates the models!
/s
Black Holes – I’ll believe it when I see it 😉
Isi t possible to change “…Eating Our Galaxy Slower Than Previously Thought” to “…Eating Our Galaxy More Slowly Than Previously Thought”?
“It is a well known fact that there is a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.”
Another science that is settled? I guess the learning curve is falling on its nose…
“The black hole is bordered by dozens of young stars. It pulls gas off these stars,..”
It’s supposed to be a supermassive black hole but with only a few dozens of young stars around it??? How many stars again at the center of our galaxy? I bet there are more than just a few dozens. Also, how could a supermassive object only suck up gas from those stars… why not suck the whole stars?
If this supermassive black hole sucks up so much hot gas… it’s not sucking hard enough… still to much hot gas from our politicians are accumulating here..
Righhhhtttt….so something that can’t be seen, uses complex computer models to describe it, and uses a proxy instead of a genuine observation isn’t behaving like the models say it should?
Sound familiar?
Black Holes,….the rich scientists carbon.