Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Blackhole Gang Bang

This picture recently released by NASA is undeniably cool. It shows the trail made by 'grumpy' neutrons while two massive black holes collide at the center of galaxy cluster Abell 400.
Black holes are one of those things that have remained a continuous mystery for many. Because they suck everything up (space and time included) they are incredibly hard to detect. Realistically you can't even see a black hole, they area spot of more or less non-existence that exist. However, those smart shiney pennies of the scientific world have learned to look for the tell tale signs black holes make. They look for things like a bend orbital paths and light emitted by stars (the light looks like it's coming from a different direction than it really is, the path has been changed by pull of the black hole causing everything to change course).
As a matter of fact we have our own black hole in our universe, and yes, it is pulling at everything. Though to lie in the constellation Sagittarius at the centre of the Milky Way is a super-massive black hole. Here are a few basic facts you can work into today's conversations to make everyone pause and go, WOW!
Distance: More than 25,000 light-years.
Mass: About 4 million times more than the sun.
Size: About 14 million miles across.
Rotation: About half the speed of light, or 335 million mph.
Age: Perhaps 10 billion years or more.
Source: NASA, University of California-Berkeley
Not that you need any encouragement but I suppose you Sagitarians could use this as support that you ARE the center of the universe; just don't talk to me about it.

A picture like the one above results when two black holes pull eachother in, leading to a super-massive blackhole. This as I have said earlier is way too cool for words. Such a scenario was proposed by the king himself, Einstein. According to Albert, when two black holes collide there is a wiggle in the gravitational pull. This causes a corresponding shake in all of the dimensions that are being affected already, space and time. These wiggles are yet to be detected but scientists are working on it. Success has been fostered through a computer program which has modelled such an event. To find out more about this collision and the program just check out the article attached below.


Simulation Breakthrough: When Black Holes Collide from PhysOrg.com
NASA scientists have reached a breakthrough in computer modeling that allows them to simulate what gravitational waves from merging black holes look like. The three-dimensional simulations, the largest astrophysical calculations ever performed on a NASA supercomputer, provide the foundation to explore the universe in an entirely new way. [...]

2 Comments:

At May 01, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sara
Have you been watching the family comet breakup - Wachmann/Schwashmann

Luv
Mom

 
At May 01, 2006, Blogger Booth said...

Just follow this link;
http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2006/04/28/comet-breakup060428.html
It will show you a picture of the comet bearing my mother's maiden name... Power to the Wachmanns.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home