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Closest Look Yet at Milky Way's Black Hole

livescience.com — For a while now scientists have thought a dense, massive object lurking at the center of our galaxy is likely a giant black hole, but they haven't been able to prove it. New observations offering the closest view yet of the heart of the Milky Way present strong evidence for the black hole theory, and even hope of finally settling the question soon.

Who dugg this? Made popular Sep 5, 2008

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  • ferrell, on 09/05/2008, -1/+31Milky Way: "You promise that you'll never show these pics to anyone else, right?"
  • paradexes, on 09/04/2008, -6/+25Cosmic goatse.
  • chrissku, on 09/05/2008, -0/+12Here's an awesome video about black holes. Very informative.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b7xer66ifQ
  • grodrigu, on 09/05/2008, -0/+10I wanted to see a picture not an illustration
  • freezerburn666, on 09/05/2008, -2/+12if our galaxy collides with the (bigger) andromedea galaxy and the two supermassive black holes dance around each other, and then eventually become 1 supermassive black hole well.... then... DAMN! that would be some crazy *****.
  • ASSASSYN360, on 09/05/2008, -0/+8I love black holes.
  • inactive, on 09/05/2008, -1/+7Milky Way's shifty boyfriend: "Oh no sweetie, these are for just you and me, and I promise I'll delete them as soon as I'm done looking at them. Promise!"
  • inactive, on 09/05/2008, -0/+5Heh heh.....massive black holes......*****.
  • inactive, on 09/05/2008, -0/+5Hole kept-a stretchin' all night long
  • pennstatephil, on 09/05/2008, -0/+5I just kept saying "please dont let it be a rickroll"
  • sremick, on 09/05/2008, -1/+5So, did a black hole suck up the other FRONT PAGE submission on this exact same topic just a couple days ago?

    *checks*

    Umm, nope. Buried for the dupe it is.
  • WELLDOITLIVE, on 09/05/2008, -0/+4BAM, jj.am
  • Scotty87, on 09/05/2008, -6/+9If only people would invest half the money into science as they do for wars....
  • SomeDrunk, on 09/05/2008, -1/+4Speak for yourself.
  • Decipi, on 09/05/2008, -0/+3Its a Trap.
  • Zuzubar, on 09/05/2008, -0/+3While nothing exactly escapes from a black hole, it has recently been discovered that black holes emit radiation. This is known as Hawking Radiation. This is what causes micro black holes to disappear, as the holes in the LHC experiment would not be stable, and would emit more mass than they are gaining through sucking it in.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawking_radiation
  • WELLDOITLIVE, on 09/05/2008, -0/+2We'll all be dead long before that could happen.
  • freezerburn666, on 09/05/2008, -0/+2its a yahtzee review of black holes
  • Culero, on 09/05/2008, -0/+2Found on WhatBoysWant.com
  • eyepatch100, on 09/05/2008, -0/+2Not so, once any matter crosses the event horizon it's gone forever. Until then, the black hole acts just like a really really massive ball. The disc is actually mater that is funneling into the black hole, and the jets are particles that are accelerated by the black hole's magnetic field, but never entered the black hole.
  • robev, on 09/05/2008, -1/+3You can't really see black holes...
  • JoeHammer, on 09/05/2008, -0/+2You would think after all these years telescopes could actually record video.

    If my cell phone can do it, why can't a million dollar machine designed to record discoveries?
  • cjacks9, on 09/05/2008, -0/+2The models they showed on the Science Channel were better.
  • frostbyt, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1GPS is kinda useless too when you know how to use a map or even stars to get around.
  • ljw5021, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1This isn't news. Pending the discovery of a new object, a supermassive black hole is the only explanation for the dynamical systems near the heart of the galaxy.
  • wrek, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1Thanks for that... I think the first one is fairly provocative but you're right, the second is something I'd rather look at.

    Strange having an actual discussion on a digg thread.. ;)
  • youannoyme, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1Hawking Radiation is a very slow (and as of yet, unobserved) process. eyepatch100 nailed the explanation. Its the accretion disk outside the black hole that not only feeds the black hole more matter, but also ejects high energy jets
  • exoendo, on 09/06/2008, -0/+1THIS. IS. SPARTAAAA
  • 8177, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1Well, it's comforting to know that I will be sucked into that thing. Wonder what's on the other side.
  • ScottyF311, on 09/05/2008, -1/+2I took a close look at your mom's black hole.

    HEY-HOOOOO!
  • Scottamus, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1What's this new obsession over giant black holes? Was your mother a prostitute?
  • masterkenobi, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1The KKK called, they want their lame joke back.
  • mingohills, on 09/05/2008, -1/+2Does this mean the LHC will soon make us the center of the Galaxy??
  • Mockylock, on 09/05/2008, -2/+3Why does it alway have to be about color?
    Why can't it just be the "light challenged" hole?
  • stonebear, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1I hope you are very patient. Our sun will be long dead, and all it's planets rendered to dust in the process, by the time that happens, if it ever does.
  • frostbyt, on 09/05/2008, -1/+2Ohh ahhh. Great. Now we can see a black hole closer. How awesome is that? Millions spent on this just so we can see a hole that sucks in everything even light. How does that help humanity? It don't.

    Stop spending millions on useless science.

    /facepalm
  • NikoKun, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1I'm still looking for a black hole in Spore... lol *huray for getting it early*
  • NikoKun, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1I just wonder how the stream of Hawking Radiation actually manages to escape the gravity of the thing... OR is there some type of gravity weak spot alone the pole of it, that allows just that stuff to get out.
  • inactive, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1The title to this article made me feel dirty....
  • T0m4, on 09/06/2008, -0/+1Maybe we can look trough the past with black holes gravitaionnal lens…
  • stonebear, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1The black hole itself remains invisible, there are just higher resolution images of what's going on around it, particularly the strong x-ray flare it appears to be causing from Sagittarius A*.

    Perhaps these 2003 images will make you feel better; it's unlikely they are much different to non-astronomers:
    http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2003/0203long/ind ...
  • frostbyt, on 09/08/2008, -0/+1So how is black hole research directly related to the fruition of computers?
  • jalaram, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1George Bush doesn't care about Black Holes.
  • vawksel, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1You're looking at artists renditions of them.

    The only way you can see or detect a real black hole is seeing the light of nearby stars warp and bend around the black hole.

    *** This is what a real black hole looks like: http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/1232/64333doom4 ...

    Which gets your attention, that or the image in the article? http://i.livescience.com/images/080903-our-black-h ...

  • wrek, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1So you, and those below are saying that the matter we see streaming out never actually crosses the event horizon? That makes sense... but the artist's renderings aren't very accurate then because it usually looks like this stuff is coming out of the black hole itself.
  • youannoyme, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1Well, studying this exact same field has already given you technologies like GPS (General Relativity is needed for it to be accurate). Maybe you don't see a use for studying it right now, but if that was ever a reason to not look for answers to the universe then you'd not have any of your tech toys... Front line Science often looks "useless", until you discover something new that unleashes entire markets of technological advances...
  • inactive, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1or black people. or people in general
  • WELLDOITLIVE, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1I guess alcohol IS the answer to all of life's problems
  • gdha, on 09/05/2008, -0/+1Awesome view.
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