thenewenlightenmentage:Rule-breaking black hole blows weirdly powerful windsA black hole in a nearby
thenewenlightenmentage:Rule-breaking black hole blows weirdly powerful windsA black hole in a nearby galaxy is blowing a mighty wind. The black hole is about 100 times the mass of the sun but is causing the emission of millions of times more energy, breaking a long-accepted rule about the way black holes feed. The discovery suggests that even small black holes may play a larger role in galaxy evolution than previously realised.When black holes consume matter from their surroundings, the incoming gas and dust reach scorching temperatures just before falling in. The hot gas emits powerful “winds” of radiation, and theory has it that the energy in these winds cannot exceed a certain limit tied to the black hole’s mass, called the Eddington limit. Winds more powerful than this limit would blow the incoming gas away and halt the black hole’s growth – or so we thought.Continue Reading -- source link