Black holes growing faster than expected

[n2doc]

Stuart Gary
ABC

Existing theories on the relationship between the size of a galaxy and its central black hole are wrong according to a new Australian study.

The discovery by Dr Nicholas Scott and Professor Alister Graham, from Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology, found smaller galaxies have far smaller black holes than previously estimated.

Central black holes, millions to billions of times larger than the Sun, reside in the core of most galaxies, and are thought to be integral to galactic formation and evolution.

However astronomers are still trying to understand this relationship.

more
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/01/17/3671551.htm

[Permanut]

1. Thanks n2doc! This needs more investigation..

I propose that we send five of our finest members of the House Science Committee out to one of these black holes to confirm the findings. I nominate the following:

Lamar Smith
Paul Broun
Jim Sensenbrenner
Dana Rohrabacher
Mo Brooks

[Neoma]

2. Uhm...

I once heard that we're rather close to one. We doomed?

[jeff47]

3. "Close" is extremely relative.

This one is 24,000 light years away.

Which is "close" in cosmic terms. But still really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really far away.

[longship]

4. Well, black holes are not vacuum cleaners.

They have the exact same gravity that a star of the same mass. If the sun were a black hole of the same mass the planets would orbit just the same as they do now.

There is nothing special about a black hole except it is much more compressed and it has an event horizon. Now, you don't want to go anywhere near that event horizon. But, it is close in. Things outside the event horizon only see the black hole's mass, as if it's a normal star.

I've simplified things quite a bit but that's the basic way it is.

So, I am not worried about black holes.

[Neoma]

5. Good to know.

Just reminds me of Death from the Skies by Philip Plait PH.D. But I never got through the whole book yet.

[longship]

6. I am a huge Bad Astronomy fan.

Phil Plait's Blog is great.
Bad Astronomy

He also has a TEDx talk here:

It's about asteroid collisions.

Just in case you didn't know.