space.com— A pair of rare medium-sized black holes was spotted near the center of a nearby galaxy, but for some reason they haven't been swallowed up by the supermassive black hole lurking there.
May 3, 2010View in Crawl 4
I'm not sure how to answer that... scientists theorized that there should be very dense, massive objects with immense gravitational pulls. They decided to call these things "black holes". Then they observed what they had theorized. Black holes are the described objects, because scientists named them black holes... a tree is called a tree because someone said it was; same with a black hole.I think that you're looking at it from the view of scientists seeing something that sucked other things up and called it a black hole, and then went on to hypothesize that it was, in fact, a dense massive object. The discovery was the other way around.
So wait a tick... If a black hole is just an extreme gravitational phenomenon where all incoming matter is compressed into an infinitely dense point, what happens when an infinitely dense point is absorbed into another infinitely dense point. 2*inf=inf, so.... *brain asplodes*
A supermassive black hole can suck up smaller black holes just like a big kid can take a smaller kid's lunch money -- simply because they're bigger. Of course, the smaller black holes suspect this, but if the bigger black hole is their cousin, it makes it that much easier for it to sneak up on them -- or, in astronomical terms, to lurk.
Thanks meninostongue!I didn't know that black holes were solid objects with great gravitational pull. I seriously thought they were "holes"? of some sort that suck stuff in, crush it up, and shoot it out those two "legs" of light.
Thanks meninostongue!I didn't know that black holes were solid objects with great gravitational pull. I seriously thought they were "holes"? of some sort that suck stuff in, crush it up, and shoot it out those two "legs" of light.
Well I was under the impression that the thing that makes black holes special is the fact that Einsteins theory of general relativety breaks down when you get to the centre of them. Whilst yes it appears that they are just extremely heavy they also seem to be "impossibly" heavy as in you can't compare them to things we see here on Earth because of the infinite numbers you get when substituting them into Einstein's equations.
begaMay 3, 2010
my first thought (before I rtfa) was "oh those crazy kids at CERN. Wonder what they did this time?"
meninostongueMay 3, 2010
I'm not sure how to answer that... scientists theorized that there should be very dense, massive objects with immense gravitational pulls. They decided to call these things "black holes". Then they observed what they had theorized. Black holes are the described objects, because scientists named them black holes... a tree is called a tree because someone said it was; same with a black hole.I think that you're looking at it from the view of scientists seeing something that sucked other things up and called it a black hole, and then went on to hypothesize that it was, in fact, a dense massive object. The discovery was the other way around.
reticulateMay 3, 2010
Mass tends to attract mass. It's a fundamental process we call gravity.
insanebrainMay 3, 2010
Too big to fail ?
agentmulder5May 3, 2010
So wait a tick... If a black hole is just an extreme gravitational phenomenon where all incoming matter is compressed into an infinitely dense point, what happens when an infinitely dense point is absorbed into another infinitely dense point. 2*inf=inf, so.... *brain asplodes*
Closed AccountMay 3, 2010
A supermassive black hole can suck up smaller black holes just like a big kid can take a smaller kid's lunch money -- simply because they're bigger. Of course, the smaller black holes suspect this, but if the bigger black hole is their cousin, it makes it that much easier for it to sneak up on them -- or, in astronomical terms, to lurk.
impsethMay 3, 2010
I was hoping they were talking about the lhc.
dbdevMay 3, 2010
Thanks meninostongue!I didn't know that black holes were solid objects with great gravitational pull. I seriously thought they were "holes"? of some sort that suck stuff in, crush it up, and shoot it out those two "legs" of light.
dbdevMay 3, 2010
Thanks meninostongue!I didn't know that black holes were solid objects with great gravitational pull. I seriously thought they were "holes"? of some sort that suck stuff in, crush it up, and shoot it out those two "legs" of light.
monitersMay 3, 2010
Well I was under the impression that the thing that makes black holes special is the fact that Einsteins theory of general relativety breaks down when you get to the centre of them. Whilst yes it appears that they are just extremely heavy they also seem to be "impossibly" heavy as in you can't compare them to things we see here on Earth because of the infinite numbers you get when substituting them into Einstein's equations.
bhupyMay 4, 2010
ohh man , i was hoping about this !