There's a Hole in the Middle of It All

Apparition writes "CNN is reporting that the star at the center of our galaxy is actually a super-massive black hole. The article then claims that it occupies a volume of space about 3 times that of our solar system. If my math is correct, about 230 million suns could fit into that same volume, so it doesn't impress me that the claimed mass of the black hole is only between 2.6 and 3.7 million times that of the sun. So what is up here? Since when do black holes occupy so much space (I thought they were points)? And how can something with a density only 1/100 of our Sun be called super-massive?" I think the article is talking about a maximum possible size of the object, due to limitations on the resolution of our instruments. Nature has a no-registration story about the research. Update: 10/16 23:44 GMT by M : There's an article with more information on space.com, and a press release from the European Southern Observatory.

Watch that title

[Corporate Troll]

....now really, do they do this on purpose? I mean, I don't even want to see all the Troll links to goase.cx pointing out what to find in the hole.
It's just disgusting!

So how long...

[name_already_in_use]

until the super-massive black hole eats up our galaxy, and do you think M$ will survive?

Now we know

[m_chan]

where Enron's accountants found work.

Re:So how long...

[Anonvmous Coward]

"...until the super-massive black hole eats up our galaxy, and do you think M$ will survive?"

It's nice to see that graduates from the Bob Saget School of Comedy are getting journalism work.

So...

[sirgoran]

Would this be the proverbial drain that we're all swirling around to our eventual demise?

Just wondering.

-Goran

That explains it

[Anonymous Coward]

From the very center, this galaxy sucks.

No...

[SkulkCU]

That's Florida.

Someone Obviously Hasn't Seen Star Trek V

[guttentag]

We already know there's a powerful telepath living on a planet there and he needs a space ship. If there had been a black hole in the center of the galaxy, you'd think someone would have mentioned it.

Re:academic implications?

[benwb]

Kip Thorne has a subscription to penthouse. They exist.

I thought...

[JHromadka]

at the middle of the galaxy was some calm looking planet with a grey-haired guy that Sybok is looking for. Thanks for bringing up horrible memories of ST:V!

There's a Hole in the Middle of It All?

[orangepeel]

*drooling* Mmm ... donut!

The answer is easy

[Rui del-Negro]

Since when do black holes occupy so much space (I thought they were points)?

They're big points.

RMN
~~~

Re:Event Horizon

[The_Shadows]

if the "big crunch" theory is correct, it will probably be a singularity that the universe ends as.

I think you mean the "gnab gib." You, know, a Big Bang backwards? I've seen it before, and it's quite a sight. It plays every night at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

Re:Infinate density

[stratjakt]

Infinite density?

You mean Ellen Feiss?

it was like Beep beep like beep beep

If I got this straight...

[avgjoe62]

The galaxy is a large, circular object with a hole in the middle.

Very much like those things you find at a Krispy Kreme shop, but with a lot less frosting...

Does this mean that the voice we will hear at The End of Time will be saying "OOOhhh... donuts..."

Re:From the article:

[dvk]

You know you've been spending too much time on /. when you read the last sentence of the above reply as "It may experience a slashdot effect".

-DVK

The Usual Bias

[waldoj]

I can't believe how Milky-Way-centric that Slashdot still is. The bias is incredible. Nowhere in this story does it identify which galaxy, as if we all live in the same galaxy. For chrissake, people, it's the Internet.

Jeez.

-Waldo Jaquith

Re:academic implications?

[benwb]

Are you ready, 'cuz this is a pretty amazing piece of logic:
Cygnus X-1 is a black hole, therefore blackholes exist.

Re:So...

[Thatmushroom]

Shouldn't the bottom half of the universe be swirling the other way?

That's the star's closest approach

[dpp]

The article then claims that it occupies a volume of space about 3 times that of our solar system.

This might be a misinterpretation. In the ESO press release [eso.org] they say:

...the star approached the central Black Hole to within 17 light-hours - only three times the distance between the Sun and planet Pluto.

So that puts an upper limit on the scale of the thing, but doesn't imply it takes up all of that space.

Re:Event Horizon

[Shinsei]

You do of course mean time = 10^-*42* seconds? ;)))

Re:Event Horizon

[Anne_Nonymous]

>>Usually when people talk about the size...

...they're lying.

Re:Infinate density

[Anonymous Coward]

Reminds me of an old Dilbert:

Dilbert: (reading aloud) "...and as you aproach the speed of light, you would become infinitly dense."

Dogbert: Would you then be forced to take a job as a high school gym teacher?

Dilbert: The book changes subjects at this point.

Dogbert: Sounds like a cover-up.

Re:The Usual Bias

[elandal]

I think it's a reasonable assumption that the Internet has a maximum radius of max TTL of an IP packet, which excludes such close objects as Mars, let alone another galaxy.

So please, even if You were just a visitor, considering You're posting on slashdot You might as well forget the idea of returning and start living on slashdot. You're confined to the small space of 400 seconds from slashdot.

Old Physics Joke!

[ccoakley]

That's why we should throw a party at the event horizon. Everyone arrives at the same time and the party lasts forever.

That or nobody ever gets there and the ride is extremely short.

I can't remember which was the inside observer and which was the outside observer. I think it mixes reference points. The same time reference point is short, and the never arrive takes forever.

Isn't relativity fun?

Giant Toilet Theory

[screwthemoderators]

So we're being flushed down a giantic cosmic toilet. Great. I know Tool said I should learn to swim, but I guess that won't be enough.

Re:Event Horizon

[sheetsda]

I like your name for it better. "Gib" just seems like a much more appropriate name for the end of the universe. "What happened to the universe?" "Oh, it got gibbed"

Re:Event Horizon

[gid]

"Gib Gnab" is actually a phrase from the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by the late Douglas Adams. (Dang it, why can't you underline stuff in /. comments? :( ) It's big bang spelled backards and not meant to be a referrence to the recently coined "gibs" in anyway. The reading of these books is a requirement to be a geek. I take them quite seriously.

Re:If I got this straight...

[IntelliTubbie]

The galaxy is a large, circular object with a hole in the middle.
Very much like those things you find at a Krispy Kreme shop, but with a lot less frosting...

Does this mean that the voice we will hear at The End of Time will be saying "OOOhhh... donuts..."

Stephen Hawking: "I am intrigued by your theory of a donut-shaped universe, Homer. I may have to steal it."

Cheers,
IT

Say it ain't so

[vsprintf]

A black hole is just God dividing by zero

You mean the universe is just a bunch of cosmic core dumps? There goes the neighborhood.

Re:String Theory...

[Kragg]

Some of the more avant guard sting theorists

I know Sting has gone a bit far off the norm recently, but is there really a discipline and a body of scientists dedicated to studying him?

Re:String Theory...

[Tablizer]

[string] theorists are advancing the notion that black holes are simply really really big (as in high energy) elementary particles (i.e. strings).

Maybe Perl can be applied to figure out a really big string :-)

Re:Event Horizon

[Drath]

Your education sounds delicious.

So it's true...

[Stalyn]

our galaxy does suck.

and the Radiation Front...

[vortexau]

No one has mentioned the Wave Front of Deadly Radiation propagating from the center of the galaxy that the 'Pupperteer's' Flying Worlds are fleeing!?

(and definitely not that Ringworld that THEY discovered?)
.