The first officially detected black hole was in the early 70s, and it's called cygnus x-1. Spectral analysis detected an accretion disk with matter approaching relativistic velocities around the center, plus massive gamma ray radiation, which means the object is either a black hole or something completely unknown in cosmology. Many proposals have been made, none fit the data except the black hole theory. This is generally credited as the first black hole candidate.Since then scientists have found a few dozen more which fall into the same category. Plus supermassive black holes in distant galaxies, which are the only way to explain certain cosmological phenomenea (sound shacky but it's not. To a scientist it is much more acceptable to say he doesn't know than make wild guesses. But most scientist will not categorically say yes that's a black hole until someone lands on it... scientists refer to these as black hole candidates in the same way that they would call a malard they are holding in their hands a 'duck candidate'. IE we cannot observe this directly so we cannot be categorical, but virtually all the evidence points to black holes, and the evidence is quite compeling.)Black holes are also generally believed to be formed during some supercollider experiments. Small very short lived object that act exactly as black holes should have been detected, but again most scientists do not dismiss the possibility that some unknown physical process is at work. IE until they hold it in their hands they wont say for sure.
geekygergeOct 16, 2007
Whoops, did i need the /sarcasm tag?
unstablemindOct 16, 2007
!? No, we've never seen the x or gamma radiation emitted from these non-existing black-holes!
bleueOct 17, 2007
The first officially detected black hole was in the early 70s, and it's called cygnus x-1. Spectral analysis detected an accretion disk with matter approaching relativistic velocities around the center, plus massive gamma ray radiation, which means the object is either a black hole or something completely unknown in cosmology. Many proposals have been made, none fit the data except the black hole theory. This is generally credited as the first black hole candidate.Since then scientists have found a few dozen more which fall into the same category. Plus supermassive black holes in distant galaxies, which are the only way to explain certain cosmological phenomenea (sound shacky but it's not. To a scientist it is much more acceptable to say he doesn't know than make wild guesses. But most scientist will not categorically say yes that's a black hole until someone lands on it... scientists refer to these as black hole candidates in the same way that they would call a malard they are holding in their hands a 'duck candidate'. IE we cannot observe this directly so we cannot be categorical, but virtually all the evidence points to black holes, and the evidence is quite compeling.)Black holes are also generally believed to be formed during some supercollider experiments. Small very short lived object that act exactly as black holes should have been detected, but again most scientists do not dismiss the possibility that some unknown physical process is at work. IE until they hold it in their hands they wont say for sure.