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bananas

(27,509 posts)
Mon Apr 11, 2016, 03:02 PM Apr 2016

Astronomers discover mysterious alignment of black holes

Source: Science Daily

Deep radio imaging by researchers in the University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape, in South Africa, has revealed that supermassive black holes in a region of the distant universe are all spinning out radio jets in the same direction -- most likely a result of primordial mass fluctuations in the early universe. The astronomers publish their results in a new paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

<snip>

UWC Prof Romeel Dave, SARChI Chair in Cosmology with Multi-Wavelength Data, who leads a team developing plans for universe simulations that could explore the growth of large-scale structure from a theoretical perspective, agrees: "This is not obviously expected based on our current understanding of cosmology. It's a bizarre finding."

<snip>

It's a mystery, and it's going to take a while for technology and theory alike to catch up.

Such projects are already in the planning stages; the SKA for example, and its precursor telescopes, the South African MeerKAT array and the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP).

"GMRT is one of the largest and most sensitive radio telescope arrays in the world," notes Prof Taylor, "but we really need MeerKAT to make the very sensitive maps, over a very large area and with great detail, that will be necessary to differentiate between possible explanations. It opens up a whole new research area for these instruments, which will probe as deeply into the and as far back as we can go -- it's going to be an exciting time to be an astronomer."

<snip>


Read more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160411130033.htm

33 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Astronomers discover mysterious alignment of black holes (Original Post) bananas Apr 2016 OP
They are warning beacons. Stay away! BillZBubb Apr 2016 #1
Mysterious alignment of black holes may be our only hope if the election goes south. redwitch Apr 2016 #2
Cool. Here is a link to the paper... xocet Apr 2016 #3
Supermassive black holes Bayard Apr 2016 #4
On the contrary, reflection Apr 2016 #5
I'm gonna be whistling that the rest of the day... n/t jtuck004 Apr 2016 #7
Ah love me some Muse! Initech Apr 2016 #10
maybe black holes are the normal state of matter - white holes (stars) are the abominations Baclava Apr 2016 #6
You're not onto something questionable Tab Apr 2016 #19
Quasars???...nt freebrew Apr 2016 #22
Could be, or maybe not Tab Apr 2016 #28
this is going to make for a great si fy book SoLeftIAmRight Apr 2016 #8
Was he watching the Trump and Cruz campaigns? Initech Apr 2016 #9
Sorry, this article is about blackholes not assholes. nt cstanleytech Apr 2016 #17
There's another possible explanation. Zephyrbag Apr 2016 #11
+1 Zira Apr 2016 #13
Thanks for the link. And welcome to DU!! (eom) StevieM Apr 2016 #15
concepts of expanding universe, black holes, dark matter, and dark energy, etc. are all wrong. AlbertCat Apr 2016 #18
Just because alternative theories have their own issues, does not mean mhatrw Apr 2016 #29
Just because alternative theories have their own issues, does not mean AlbertCat Apr 2016 #33
I KNEW IT !!! Fucking Romulans. Hoppy Apr 2016 #12
Lol Rebkeh Apr 2016 #14
"most likely a result of primordial mass fluctuations in the early universe." SoapBox Apr 2016 #16
Translation: "That's the only thing we can think of now that might be related." bemildred Apr 2016 #30
Mysterious alignment of black holes: Corporate media... Peace Patriot Apr 2016 #20
Ha! SammyWinstonJack Apr 2016 #24
Must have been a Black Hole Shriner's Convention or something MrScorpio Apr 2016 #21
Mysterious alignment: Not so mysterious. Blue State Bandit Apr 2016 #23
I expected this.... Spitfire of ATJ Apr 2016 #25
Call Art Bell, he'll tell us what to do. Kingofalldems Apr 2016 #26
The alignment of the black holes refers to trump and cruz still_one Apr 2016 #27
The event horizon is an asymptotic limit. bemildred Apr 2016 #31
"Primordial Mass Fluctuations" is what I'm gonna call my next band. Scuba Apr 2016 #32

redwitch

(14,944 posts)
2. Mysterious alignment of black holes may be our only hope if the election goes south.
Mon Apr 11, 2016, 03:12 PM
Apr 2016

Another planet may be our best bet.

xocet

(3,871 posts)
3. Cool. Here is a link to the paper...
Mon Apr 11, 2016, 03:19 PM
Apr 2016
Alignments of Radio Galaxies in Deep Radio Imaging of ELAIS N1
A. R. Taylor(1,2), P. Jagannathan(1,3)

1 Department of Astronomy University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
2 Department of Physic [sic] and Astronomy, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa
3 National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Socorro, NM, USA

Accepted 2016 March 7. Received 2016 March 7; in original form 2015 December 20

ABSTRACT
We present a study of the distribution of radio jet position angles of radio galaxies over an area of 1 square degree in the ELAIS N1 field. ELAIS N1 was observed with the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope at 612 MHz to an rms noise level of 10 ?Jy and angular resolution of 6 arcsec x 5 arcsec. The image contains 65 resolved radio galaxy jets. The spatial distribution reveals a prominent alignment of jet position angles along a "filament" of about 1°. We examine the possibility that the apparent alignment arises from an underlying random distribution and that the probability of chance alignment is less than 0.1%. An angular covariance analysis of the data indicates the presence of spatially coherence in position angles on scales > 0.5°. This angular scales translates to a co-moving scale of > 20 Mpc at a redshift of 1. The implied alignment of the spin axes of massive black holes that give rise the radio jets suggest the presence of large-scale spatial coherence in angular momentum. Our results reinforce prior evidence for large-scale spatial alignments of quasar optical polarisation position angles.

...

https://www.ras.org.uk/images/stories/press/Black_Holes/alignment.pdf

Bayard

(22,100 posts)
4. Supermassive black holes
Mon Apr 11, 2016, 03:22 PM
Apr 2016

Doesn't sound very friendly. I would think the magnetic alignment would be the most plausible theory though.

 

Baclava

(12,047 posts)
6. maybe black holes are the normal state of matter - white holes (stars) are the abominations
Mon Apr 11, 2016, 03:24 PM
Apr 2016

We're living on the wrong side of reality! - it all makes sense now.

Tab

(11,093 posts)
19. You're not onto something questionable
Mon Apr 11, 2016, 04:30 PM
Apr 2016

No, stars are not "white holes", but from what I understand about black holes is that they induce singularity and eject thhat in another point in space and time. Maybe not stars, but given how we've gotten good at finding black holes, shouldn't we have found at least one "white hole" by now? Iif not, where does the stuff go, or does it just add to the black hole's mass?

Tab

(11,093 posts)
28. Could be, or maybe not
Tue Apr 12, 2016, 03:18 AM
Apr 2016

There's plenty of literature that indicates black holes get bigger. Maybe shit goes in and doesn't go out? I dunno.

FWIW, in high school, I did a report on black holes for my science teacher, who was also in charge of the darkroom (remember those?). I blanked out two sheets of paper - just exposed them to the light and ran them through the chemicals - I labeled one "Black Hole" and the other (I think) "Black hole at night".

I got a decent grade on the report (I did do my science) but received the comment that "color photos would be nice". (!)

Since then it's just been an ongoing interest.

 

Zephyrbag

(20 posts)
11. There's another possible explanation.
Mon Apr 11, 2016, 03:43 PM
Apr 2016

Maybe the concepts of expanding universe, black holes, dark matter, and dark energy, etc. are all wrong. An intriguing alternate view can be found at thunderbolts.info, which explains the electric universe.

 

AlbertCat

(17,505 posts)
18. concepts of expanding universe, black holes, dark matter, and dark energy, etc. are all wrong.
Mon Apr 11, 2016, 04:11 PM
Apr 2016

...or more likely, they are just incomplete.

Because the "Electric Universe" is.... never mind....

mhatrw

(10,786 posts)
29. Just because alternative theories have their own issues, does not mean
Tue Apr 12, 2016, 05:07 AM
Apr 2016

that the current cosmology model is just incomplete.

All I would like scientists to admit is that when it comes to the biggest questions (the origin in the universe, the processes that have driven the universe's matter and energy to organize as they have, and the origin of life), they don't know half of what they pretend to know with half of the certainty that they pretend to know it.

 

AlbertCat

(17,505 posts)
33. Just because alternative theories have their own issues, does not mean
Tue Apr 12, 2016, 11:28 AM
Apr 2016

that they even add up to anything.

The Electric Universe is ridiculous woo.


Now, put down the homeopathy, and go read some Lawrence Krauss.

(Besides, we've been through this dreck before here on DU)

SoapBox

(18,791 posts)
16. "most likely a result of primordial mass fluctuations in the early universe."
Mon Apr 11, 2016, 04:06 PM
Apr 2016

Uhhhhhh......say what?

Ya...I'm a total dullard.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
30. Translation: "That's the only thing we can think of now that might be related."
Tue Apr 12, 2016, 06:57 AM
Apr 2016

And also one needs to consider that pretty much everything can be considered a result of mass fluctuations in the early unsiverse, sort of.

MrScorpio

(73,631 posts)
21. Must have been a Black Hole Shriner's Convention or something
Mon Apr 11, 2016, 04:41 PM
Apr 2016

I can see them riding around in little neutron stars.

Blue State Bandit

(2,122 posts)
23. Mysterious alignment: Not so mysterious.
Mon Apr 11, 2016, 04:44 PM
Apr 2016

It's called a Berkland Current in which collimated double-layers transfer charged particles (Protons & Electrons) between the 2 bodies. These are visible during active glow mode events in the form of "Jets". but most often are not seen above "radio" when less active in dark mode. Old news for EU.

bemildred

(90,061 posts)
31. The event horizon is an asymptotic limit.
Tue Apr 12, 2016, 07:04 AM
Apr 2016

All kinds of funny things can happen at asymptotic limits, like inversions. So I don't really think we know what's in a black hole, and further when they talk about storage of information in black holes they talk about holographic storage on the boundary, not inside it, and I suspect that's why, they can't really talk about what's inside it. No way to get there.

Personally I think that's where the "minders" live.

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