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Black holes reveal more secrets

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Scientists say they have unlocked some of the secrets behind black holes, the gravitational fields known for sucking up light and stars from the Universe. In a report in the journal Nature, US researchers say they have worked out how black holes emit jet streams of particles at close to light speed. The University of Boston team say the streams originate in the magnetic field near the edge of the black hole. They say it is within this region that the jets are accelerated and focused.

Despite the fact that it is probable that a black hole lurks at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, astronomers still know very little about these celestial monsters which vacuum up almost everything in their path, even light. Professor Alan Marscher of the University of Boston and his colleagues claim they have delved deeper than ever into their heart.

Using almost every type of telescope known to humankind, Prof Marscher believes he has worked out where and how the jets - or blazars - are formed. Using an array of 10 powerful radio telescopes, aimed at the galaxy BL Lacertae, the researchers studied a black hole just as it was sending forth a blazar jet.
katevalentine

8 responses // Black holes reveal more secrets

  • I should be scared because?...
    bumbl
  • It is truely amazing what scientists can learn from a little bit of light that originated hundreds of millions or even billions of years ago!
    seeker561
  • bumbl, you should be scared because those beams are also gamma ray bursts (which emanates from the birth of a black hole), and if they come within 6000 light years of the earth, will cause mass extinctions, if they come any closer, kiss our ozone goodbye. they travel at the speed of light and we won't know it's happened until after the fact in which very few people could possibly survive and by very few i mean hundreds. our existence can be snuffed out by more ways than one where we'd have no hope even knowing its happened until we're gone
    diode
  • Since it's so impossible to get close to a black hole to study it, maybe we should use metaphorical science and simply study the black holes among us (there are a few where I work) and extrapolate information that way.
    24French
  • i suppose i should be frightened by this prospect, but i can only be fascinated. studying a black hole, once so impossible, has already been accomplished. these new strides in technology only foster my desire to push the boundaries of nature and maybe take a peek around the universe myself.
    aBeaUtifulSavAge
  • We know so much but yet so little. And we've still only explored 10% of the ocean.
    mikeball
  • Oh sorry, I thought this was a story about donating money to the Clinton campaign '-)
    eldamon
  • No it is about our treasury in the Bush Administration..
    CarolynGillis

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