Monday, April 28, 2008

Black Hole Jets Explained

Among the brightest objects in the universe are jets of material that seem to explode out of black holes. Of course, that seems contradictory ro laymen-- black holes gobble up everything in their neighborhood, right? Well, professional physicists have had a theory explaining the jets, and, after a recent study, they have evidence to support that theory.

Astronomers studied the jets from the black hole at the center of a relatively nearby galaxy and established the jets were formed and controlled by twisted magnetic lines of force. The material in the jets did not come from the black hole itself, but from the accretion disk that surrounds the black hole. The disk material does not fall into the black hole because it wasn't headed directly into the black hole; the inertia of that mass allowed it to orbit in the accretion disk. All the data gathered fit perfectly with theory.

Amazing what the human mind can accomplish.

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