Monster Black Hole Is the Largest and Brightest Ever Found

[knocker]

 

Astronomers have discovered the largest and most luminous black hole ever seen — an ancient monster with a mass about 12 billion times that of the sun — that dates back to when the universe was less than 1 billion years old.

It remains a mystery how black holes could have grown so huge in such a relatively brief time after the dawn of the universe, researchers say.

http://www.space.com/28664-monster-black-hole-largest-brightest-ever.html?cmpid=514648_20150226_41156876&adbid=570973452967940096&adbpl=tw&adbpr=15431856

[Daniel*]

Luminous black hole? I thought light is pulled by the intense gravitational attraction? total darkness.

[Mokidugway]

Proberbly a luminous accretion disk ,which I would imagine to be truly huge !!...

[A.J]

as particles interact with the black hole's gravity field, they are accelerated to near light speed in their mad stampede towards the event horizon. This releases a lot of energy in the form of x-rays, gamma-rays and visible light, hence being 'luminous'....It's this accretion disk that can be detected, not the event horizon of the black hole itself

Edited February 26, 2015 by ajpoolshark

[A.J]

knocker, as a side thought, would you be happier leaving this as a standalone thread, or have it merged into the pinned astronomy thread?.....it's fine either way

[Daniel*]

as particles interact with the black hole's gravity field, they are accelerated to near light speed in their mad stampede towards the event horizon. This releases a lot of energy in the form of x-rays, gamma-rays and visible light, hence being 'luminous'....It's this accretion disk that can be detected, not the event horizon of the black hole itself

However you cannot see actually see Black hole just the contents which are swallowed up which are going in from a 360 degree angle appearing like a dark circle at the vocal point.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Daniel*

[A.J]

However you cannot see actually see Black hole just the contents which are swallowed up which are going in from a 360 degree angle appearing like a dark circle at the vocal point.

.....not quite sure how this relates to my post?........

[Daniel*]

.....not quite sure how this relates to my post?........

I'm lost so you cannot actually see the 'core' of the black hole?

[A.J]

I'm lost so you cannot actually see the 'core' of the black hole?

ah I understand what you're asking 

 

no, you can't actually see past the event horizon of a black hole because the in-rushing space is travelling at superluminal (faster than light) velocity....think of it akin to water going over a water fall.....the water is the actual fabric of space, and objects trapped in the flow of water are the particles on that fabric......

 

particles that are caught in the gravity well are accelerated ever closer to the speed of light as they approach the event horizon. This causes friction generating heat visible initially in the infrared wavelengths....as the in falling matter gets even closer to the event horizon it emits x-rays and gamma rays due to the immense energy releases as they are in unstable orbit around the black hole (bare it mind it's theorized that black holes rotate insanely quickly - many times a second).

 

The in falling matter is swept around the black hole in a flat disc (accretion disk) and heats up as it accelerates. This is partly why black holes are luminous (although it's not hole itsefd, rather the in falling matter...The other reason why black hole are 'luminous' is that in the case of active super-massive black holes, not all the matter in the accretion disc will fall into the event horizon, rather it will be flung out away from the event horizon due the unstable orbit of in falling matter. It's theorized that Back holes have incredibly strong magnetic fields meaning in this case that matter flung away from the event horizon will be directed outwards from the magnetic poles of the black hole (relativistic jets)

Edited February 27, 2015 by ajpoolshark