Strange Red Galaxy --Harbors a Monster Black Hole 100 Million Times Mass of Sun

[Swede]

A monster black hole 100 million times the mass of the Sun is feeding off gas, dust and a ring of stars at the centre of Galaxy NGC-1097 50 million light-years away. The star-ringed black hole forms the eye of the galaxy which was photographed by the US space agency's Spitzer Space Telescope in California.

The odd spiral galaxy extends long arms of red stars into space. But Nasa said the black hole at the centre of the galaxy in which Earth is situated is tame by comparison to NGC-1097, with the mass of just a few million suns.

"The fate of this black hole and others like it is an active area of research," said George Helou, deputy director of Nasa's Spitzer Science Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "Some theories hold that the black hole might quiet down and eventually enter a more dormant state like our Milky Way black hole."

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/01/weekend-feature-strange-red-galaxy-harbors-a-monster-black-hole-100-million-times-mass-of-sun.html

[FredStembottom]

1. Always willing to ask the dumb question:

We have a Black Hole at the center of our galaxy!?!

[ret5hd]

2. it now seems likely every galaxy has a black hole at its center.

to more directly answer your question: yes.

[FredStembottom]

3. That was my next question.

If they all look like water going down the drain because they all have black holes at the center.

Sorry if I'm a little behind. I have the amount of science education a guy can get from watching NOVA since the 60's. But it doesn't seem that long ago (to me) that black holes wee only purest speculation!

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. Hang my head

Hang my head, drown my fear
Till you all just disappear

Black hole sun
Won't you come
And wash away the rain
Black hole sun
Won't you come
Won't you come

[FredStembottom]

9. You haven't lived...

... if you have never heard the Steve Lawrence/Eydie Gorme" version of this!

Should be a joke - but it's stunningly beautiful.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. Don't worry. It will be at least

20 years before it destroys us.

[FiveGoodMen]

7. Orbiting a black hole (from a safe distance) is no more dangerous than orbiting a star

As long as you're in orbit, you're fine.

[AlecBGreen]

11. unless...

the gravitational pull of the black hole makes you more likely to get smacked around by incoming objects. Just look at Mercury's brusied and battered surface.

[FiveGoodMen]

12. Still no different from a star

There's a mass, and there's the distance between it and you.

[Warpy]

8. Nothing else has sufficient mass to keep stars in circulation around it

Some galaxies have a "bar" shaped series of black holes at their centers. Others have a single black hole.

You can only visualize them by the glowing debris they're absorbing.

[enlightenment]

4. Very interesting - and gorgeous.

The photo looks a little bit like a Fibonacci spiral (a little bit).
Thank you for posting the link.

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

10. It probably got so large on BBQ and Soda

I know that is what happened to me

[tridim]

13. I'm interested in black holes orbiting super-massive black holes

There is little doubt that it is the norm in the center of every galaxy. Modern theory says they don't orbit each other like planets around starts, but more like electrons around a atomic nucleus. Space-time becomes so twisted that the lighter black holes tend to "jump" out of their orbits, just like electrons jumping to different energy levels in an atom. I find the theory absolutely mind-blowing. This stuff will be measurable soon via gravitational waves.

Every time we see fractals in nature I think we're on to something.