Sunday, October 6, 2013

Supermassive Black Holes Keep Galaxies From Getting Bigger

Supermassive Black Holes Keep Galaxies From Getting Bigger:
Radio telescope image of the galaxy 4C12.50, nearly 1.5 billion light-years from Earth. Inset shows detail of location at end of superfast jet of particles, where a massive gas cloud (yellow-orange) is being pushed by the jet.  (Credit: Morganti et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF)
Radio telescope image of galaxy 4C12.50, nearly 1.5 billion light-years from Earth. Inset shows detail of location at end of superfast jet of particles, where a massive gas cloud (yellow-orange) is being pushed by the jet. (Credit: Morganti et al., NRAO/AUI/NSF)
It’s long been a mystery for astronomers: why aren’t galaxies bigger? What regulates their rates of star formation and keeps them from just becoming even more chock-full-of-stars than they already are? Now, using a worldwide network of radio telescopes, researchers have observed one of the processes that was on the short list of suspects: one supermassive black hole’s jets are plowing huge amounts of potential star-stuff clear out of its galaxy.
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Read the rest of Supermassive Black Holes Keep Galaxies From Getting Bigger (376 words)

© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2013. |Permalink |No comment |
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