The Only Black Hole We've Ever Seen Has a Shadow That Wobbles (technologyreview.com) 22
The supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy has a shadow crescent that moves, like a dancer in the dark. From a report: Over a year ago, scientists unleashed something incredible on the world: the first photo of a black hole ever taken. By putting together radio astronomy observations made with dishes across four continents, the collaboration known as the Event Horizon Telescope managed to peer 53 million light-years away and look at a supermassive black hole, which is 6.5 million times the mass of the sun and sits at the center of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87). The fiery historic image showed off a bright crescent of ultra-hot gas and debris orbiting the black hole's event horizon, the pitch-black central point-of-no-return that traps anything that goes over, even light. The EHT team had just made one of the most impressive achievements in the history of astronomy, but this was only the beginning. On Wednesday, members of the EHT collaboration published new findings in the Astrophysical Journal about M87's supermassive black hole (known as M87*), revealing two new major insights.
First, the shadow diameter of the event horizon doesn't change over time, which is exactly what Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts for a supermassive black hole of M87*'s size. However, the second insight is that the bright crescent adorning this shadow is far from stable: it wobbles. There's so much turbulent matter surrounding M87* that it makes sense the crescent would bug out and get fidgety. But the fact that we can watch it over time means we now have an established method for studying the physics of one of the most extreme kinds of environment in the entire universe.
First, the shadow diameter of the event horizon doesn't change over time, which is exactly what Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts for a supermassive black hole of M87*'s size. However, the second insight is that the bright crescent adorning this shadow is far from stable: it wobbles. There's so much turbulent matter surrounding M87* that it makes sense the crescent would bug out and get fidgety. But the fact that we can watch it over time means we now have an established method for studying the physics of one of the most extreme kinds of environment in the entire universe.
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There is no wobble in that hole
Ah, the fun dark side of early internet history.
I'm looking forward to a 30-foot bronzed sculpture, embodying what two women did with a cup one time. Morality is already damned. Might as well make some hilarious art.
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Just a little bit (Score:1)
I want to see you
Wiggle It
Just a little bit
As it Grooves
As it grooves
You feel the tension
In the air and now you're hype
You're getting down because
The sound is just your type
As it grooves
As it grooves
As it grooves
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The question is, who is the DJ who let it spin? And will it penetrate your soul, and make you lose control?
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42
Obviously ... (Score:2)
The dedication plaque is inscribed: "Libera Te Tutemet Ex Inferis"
6.5 billion not 6.5 million (Score:1)
6.5 billion solar masses, not 6.5 million. Gooses!
The Past not the Present (Score:1, Insightful)
53 million light-years away and 53 million years ago, just a reminder about what light years are. They suspect, that what should be a black hole, appears to show, in patterns of light 53million years old, what they guesstimate to be, and you can read the rest yourself. I would want a who lot more direct actual data before making claims of certainty.
Fall all you know the image could be censored at the edge of the oort cloud where something weird is happening and we are just getting an edited version of the r
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Question: when watching a live TV broadcast do you always tell everyone "but that was really said three seconds ago because of the censor tape delay", of when a new piece of news footage is aired do you tell everyone present "but that isn't really happening right now, that was taped hours ago", or when you hear thunder do you always announce "but the lightning actually struck seconds ago, not right now!" as if any of this was a surprise to anyone (much less everyone) present? Or when watching the Moon with
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Wow! You are just like Kepler! Except, Kepler wasn't a child molester like you. Stop raping children! Sick Fuck!
Post (Score:2)
You wants the short but memorable relations. (Score:1)
What happened to slashdot? (Score:2, Insightful)
In the day slashdot was 40% dumb WHOOSH memes and "in soviet russia Y, X you" and 60% semi-reasonable comments. Reading the comments on this story it seems like the semi-reasonable 60% have all left and nobody remembers the memes. It's all Trump jokes and inane nonsense.
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You must be new here.
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I've been here ages. I didn't register for a long time, so I have a pretty high ID.
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How is your comment an improvement over those you complain about? Could it be that no one here has much to say on this topic?
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You too? yeah I remember those days... in fact, a whole Beowulf cluster of them.
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In Soviet Russia beowulf clusters You!