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Stunning New Images of Black Holes in Galactic Centers Unveiled

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It has been close to two years since the world was first introduced to Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole residing at the center of the Milky Way.

A true behemoth, Sgr A* boasts a mass equivalent to 4 million suns and is encircled by hot pockets of swirling gas. Despite its immense size, it sits about 27,000 light-years away from Earth, appearing in the sky only as large as a donut on the moon’s surface.

In a recent study published in the Astrophysics Journal Letter and released by the event horizon telescope (EHT), Sgr A* was captured in polarized light for the first time.

Similar to how sunglasses can filter polarized light from the sun, astronomers utilize polarized light to unveil concealed magnetic fields.

The lines within the image indicate the direction of polarization, which correlates with the structure of the magnetic field surrounding the black hole.

“The spiral pattern observed swirling around the black hole signifies that the magnetic field must also be swirling, indicating a very strong and ordered field,” stated Dr. Sarah Isaun, an Einstein Fellow and co-leader of the project in the NASA Hubble Fellowship Program, as quoted in BBC Science Focus.

A comparison between the supermassive black holes M87* and Sagittarius A*, depicted in polarized light, reveals similar magnetic field structures, suggesting a universal feature among supermassive black holes. – Image credit: EHT Collaboration

The first-ever image of a black hole was unveiled by EHT in 2019, featuring a much grander black hole at the core of the Messier 87 galaxy (M87*).

M87* is approximately 1,000 times heavier than Sgr A*, leading to a slower rotation making it easier to image.

Further developments include astronomers releasing images of the magnetic field encompassing M87* in 2021. Overcoming the challenge of capturing our own supermassive black hole in polarized light took an additional three years.

In a surprising revelation, despite the contrasting sizes of the two black holes, the new images demonstrate strikingly similar magnetic field structures, emphasizing the prevalence of strong magnetic fields in both. This highlights a fundamental feature of supermassive black holes.

Isaun emphasized, “Sgr A* now holds a polarization structure remarkably akin to the larger, more potent M87* black hole, supporting the significance of a robust, well-ordered magnetic field in these entities.”

A comparison of the sizes of two black holes imaged by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration: M87* at the core of the galaxy Messier 87 and Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) at the center of the Milky Way. – Image credit: EHT Collaboration (Acknowledgment: Lia Medeiros, xkcd)

Previous investigations on M87* disclosed that the encircling magnetic field generates potent jets of energy and matter extending far beyond the galaxy. While astronomers have visualized the jet around M87*, it has remained elusive around Sgr A*. However, recent images unveil remarkable similarities between the two black holes, suggesting the potential existence of jets in both.

Isaun highlighted, “The jets within the host galaxy can stimulate or counteract star formation, exhibiting a fascinating interplay between the dynamics of these emanating jets from these black holes and the evolvement of the host galaxy. There exists a connection.”

“I believe we can extract valuable insights into our galaxy’s history from this connection.”

Upon the release of this image in 2022 by the EHT collaboration, it served as the premier visual evidence of a supermassive black hole residing at the heart of our galaxy, Sagittarius A*. – Image credit: EHT Collaboration

The upgraded EHT is set to observe Sgr A* once more next month, with astronomers hopeful of uncovering concealed jets and other facets of the galaxy’s central region.

Anticipate further groundbreaking revelations from EHT, potentially including more awe-inspiring images and even real-time video footage in years to come.

About our experts

Sarah Isaun is an observational astronomer and member of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration. Her research focuses on aggregating, calibrating, and visualizing millimeter-wave radio observations of supermassive black holes. She led a project to produce new images of Sagittarius A* in polarized light.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Revealing the Magnetic Field Swirling Around Our Galaxy’s Black Hole through a New Perspective

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Black hole Sagittarius A* seen in polarized light

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

This is a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy that we have never seen before. The image reveals a swirling magnetic field around Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), suggesting it may be producing jets of high-energy material that astronomers have not yet seen.

This photo was taken by a network of observatories around the world operating as a single giant telescope called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). In 2022, the first images of Sgr A* were produced, revealing light emanating from swirling hot plasma set against the dark background of a black hole's event horizon. There, light cannot escape the extreme gravity.

Now, EHT researchers Jiri Yunshi The researchers from University College London measured how this light is polarized, or the direction of the electromagnetic field, and showed the direction and strength of the magnetic field around Sgr A*.

This image is very similar to the magnetic field of M87*, the first black hole studied by EHT. Given that M87* is about 1,500 times more massive than Sgr A*, this suggests that supermassive black holes may have similar structures regardless of their size, Yunshi says.

The two black holes photographed by the Event Horizon Telescope are strikingly similar.

European Southern Observatory (ESO)

One major difference between M87* and the black holes in our galaxy is the absence of visible high-energy jets visible from Sgr A*. This lack has long puzzled astronomers, but the fact that Sgr A* has a magnetic field like M87* suggests that our galaxy's black hole may also have jets. It suggests.

“There are very interesting hints that there may be additional structures,” Yunshi says. “I think something very exciting could be happening at the center of the galaxy, and we need to track these results.”

This makes sense given other evidence for jets that may have existed long before the galaxy's history, such as Fermi bubbles, large balls of X-ray-producing plasma above and below the Milky Way. Masu.

In addition to revealing potential hidden jets, the properties of magnetic fields also solve other astrophysical mysteries, such as how particles like cosmic rays and neutrinos are accelerated to ultrahigh energies. This could help solve the problem, Yunshi said. “Magnetic fields are the basis of all of this. Anything that yields further insight into how black holes and magnetic fields interact is of just fundamental importance to astrophysics.”

Yunshi and his colleagues hope to use a larger telescope network and more advanced equipment to take more images of Sgr A*, which will help them understand the nature of the magnetic field and how it directs the jet. This will deepen your understanding of what is being generated. EHT plans to begin these observations in April, but processing the data could take several years.

References: Astrophysics Journal LetterDoi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad2df0 &DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad2df1

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Exploring the mysteries of black holes using a ‘Quantum tornado’

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If you think a regular tornado is scary, fasten your seatbelts. Scientists have created a tornado so powerful that it resembles a black hole. why? This giant vortex closely mimics a black hole, so it could offer great potential for black hole research.

It was published in the magazine Nature experimental study We created something never seen before: a quantum tornado. Basically, while a normal tornado circulates by tearing apart trees and houses, a quantum tornado circulates atoms and particles.

To make the tornado mimic a black hole, the researchers needed to use helium in a “superfluid” state, meaning it has a low viscosity and can flow without resistance. These properties allow scientists to closely observe how helium interacts with its surroundings.

This led to the discovery that small waves on the liquid surface simulate the gravitational conditions around a rotating black hole.

So how did they do it? First, the team led by the University of Nottingham needed to achieve the right properties for the liquid. This involved cooling several liters of superfluid helium to the lowest possible temperature, below -271°C.

Normally, tiny objects called “quantum vortices” in liquid helium spread apart from each other. But at this new, ultra-low temperature, liquid helium takes on quantum properties and stabilizes.

Helium “quantum tornado” experimental equipment at the black hole laboratory. – Photo credit: Leonardo Solidoro

Using a new cryogenic device, researchers were able to trap tens of thousands of these tiny objects, creating a “vortex” similar to a tornado.

The success of this experiment will allow researchers to compare the interactions inside a simulated black hole with their own theoretical projections, giving scientists a new way to simulate theories of curved spacetime and gravity. Possibilities will be unlocked.

“When we first observed clear signs of black hole physics in our first analog experiments in 2017, it was a discovery of some strange phenomena that are often difficult, if not impossible, to study in other ways.” It was a breakthrough moment for understanding the phenomenon.” Professor Silke Weinfurtneris leading the research at the Black Hole Institute, where this experiment was developed.

“Now, with more sophisticated experiments, we have taken this research to the next level. This may lead to predictions of what will happen.”

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Astronomers discover the heaviest supermassive black hole pair ever measured

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Astronomers are gemini north telescope measured a binary supermassive black hole located within the elliptical galaxy B2 0402+379.

Artist's impression of the supermassive black hole binary in elliptical galaxy B2 0402+379. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. daSilva / M. Zamani.

The pair of compact objects at the center of B2 0402+379 are the only supermassive black hole binaries ever resolved in enough detail that both objects can be seen separately.

It holds the record for the smallest distance ever directly measured – just 24 light years.

While this close separation portends a strong merger, further research reveals that the pair has been stuck at this distance for more than 3 billion years, raising questions. What is the holdup?

To better understand the dynamics of this system and its stalled merger, Stanford University professor Roger Romani and his colleagues turned to archival data from Gemini North. Gemini multi-object spectrometer (GMOS) This allowed them to determine the speed of stars near the black hole.

“The excellent sensitivity of GMOS allowed us to map the increasing velocity of stars as they approach the center of the galaxy. This allowed us to estimate the total mass of black holes present there.” Professor Romani said.

The authors estimate that the binary star's mass is a whopping 28 billion times that of the Sun, making the pair the most massive binary black hole ever measured.

This measurement not only provides valuable background on the formation of binary systems and the history of their host galaxies, but also confirms the long-held belief that the mass of supermassive binary black holes plays a key role in preventing potential mergers. This supports the theory.

“The data archive provided by the International Gemini Observatory holds a goldmine of untapped scientific discoveries,” said Dr. Martin Still, NSF program director for the International Gemini Observatory.

“Measuring the mass of this extreme supermassive binary black hole is an awe-inspiring example of the potential impact of new research exploring its rich archive.”

Understanding how this binary formed can help predict if and when it will merge. Also, some clues indicate that the pair formed through multiple galaxy mergers.

First, B2 0402+379 is a “fossil cluster,” meaning it is the result of an entire galaxy cluster's worth of stars and gas merging into a single giant galaxy.

Additionally, the presence of two supermassive black holes, coupled with their large combined mass, suggests that they resulted from the merger of multiple smaller black holes from multiple galaxies.

After galaxies merge, supermassive black holes do not collide head-on. Instead, they start slingshotting each other as they settle into a certain trajectory.

Each time a black hole passes, energy is transferred from it to the surrounding stars.

Losing their energy, the pair are dragged together, and gravitational radiation takes over, merging them just a few light years away.

This process has been observed directly in pairs of stellar-mass black holes, first documented by the detection of gravitational waves in 2015, but has never been observed in binaries of supermassive black holes.

With new knowledge about the system's extremely large mass, astronomers concluded that it would take a very large number of stars to slow down the binary enough to make its orbits so close together. .

In the process, the black hole seems to have blown away almost all the material around it, depleting the galaxy's center of stars and gas.

The merger of the two companies stalled in the final stages, as there was nothing left to further slow the companies' trajectory.

“Galaxies with lighter black hole pairs usually seem to have enough stars and mass to quickly merge the two,” Professor Romani said.

“The pair is so massive that we needed a lot of stars and gas to get the job done. But binaries scour the galaxy for such material, causing it to stagnate, making it impossible for our research to do so.” has been made accessible.”

It remains to be determined whether the pair will overcome stasis and eventually merge on a timescale of millions of years, or remain in orbit forever in limbo.

If they merged, the resulting gravitational waves would be 100 million times more powerful than those produced by the merger of stellar-mass black holes.

The pair could potentially conquer that final distance via another galactic merger. In that case, additional material, or potentially a third black hole, could be injected into the galaxy, slowing the pair's orbits enough for a merger.

However, given that B2 0402+379 is a fossil cluster, further galaxy mergers are unlikely.

“We're looking forward to tracking the core of B2 0402+379 to find out how much gas is present,” said Tirth Surti, an undergraduate at Stanford University.

“This should give us more insight into whether supermassive black holes may eventually merge or remain stuck as binaries.”

of result will appear in astrophysical journal.

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Tirth Surti other. 2024. Central kinematics and black hole mass of 4C+37.11. APJ 960, 110; doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad14fa

Source: www.sci.news

Webb uncovers incredible black hole in the ancient cosmos

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Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers observed a very red quasar-like object. A2744-QSO1 Its color suggests that A2744-QSO1's black hole lies behind a thick veil of dust obscuring much of its light. The researchers also measured the black hole's mass (40 million solar masses) and found it to be much more massive compared to its host galaxy than what has been seen in more localized examples. . This discovery suggests that it may represent the missing link between black hole seeds and the first luminescent quasars.

A composite color image of A2744-QSO1. Image credit: Furutaku other, doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07184-8.

“We were very excited when Webb started transmitting its first data,” said Dr. Lukas Furtak, a postdoctoral researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

“As we were scanning the data coming in for the UNCOVER program, three very compact objects with red flowers stood out to us.”

“Because of its 'red dot' appearance, we immediately suspected it to be a quasar-like object.”

“Using a numerical lensing model we built for the Abell 2744 galaxy cluster, we found that the three red dots are multiples of the same background light source seen when the universe was just 700 million years old. “We determined that it must be an image of Adi Zitlin, also from Ben-Gurion University in the Negev.

“Analysis of the object's color shows that it is not a typical star-forming galaxy,” said Professor Rachel Bezanson, an astronomer at the University of Pittsburgh.

“This further supports the supermassive black hole hypothesis.”

“Together with its compact size, it became clear that this was probably a supermassive black hole, but it was still different from other quasars discovered earlier.”

The astronomers then analyzed the JWST/NIRSpec spectrum of A2744-QSO1.

“The spectrum was just shocking,” said Professor Ivo Rabe of Swinburne University of Technology.

“The spectrum obtained by combining the signals from the three images and the lens magnification corresponds to 1,700 hours that Webb observed the object without a lens, making it the deepest spectrum Webb obtained for a single object in the early universe. Masu.”

“Using the spectrum, we were able to not only confirm that this red compact object is a supermassive black hole and measure its precise redshift, but also estimate its mass based on the width of its emission line. We were able to get a solid estimate,” Dr. Furtak said.

“The gas orbits the black hole's gravitational field, achieving extremely high velocities not seen in other parts of the galaxy.”

“Due to the Doppler shift, the light emitted from the accreting material is redshifted on one side and blueshifted on the other side, depending on its velocity.”

“This makes the emission lines in the spectrum wider.”

But this measurement brought yet another surprise. The black hole's mass appears to be disproportionately large compared to the mass of its host galaxy.

“All the light in that galaxy would have to fit within a small region about the size of a modern star cluster,” said Dr. Jenny Green, an astronomer at Princeton University.

“The source's gravitational lensing magnification provided an exquisite constraint on size.”

“Even if you pack all possible stars into such a small region, the black hole will end up being at least 1% of the total mass of the system.”

“In fact, it has now been discovered that several other supermassive black holes in the early Universe exhibit similar behavior, which provides insight into the growth of black holes and host galaxies, and the interactions between them. This provides some interesting insights, but this is not well understood.”

Astronomers do not know whether such supermassive black holes grow from the remains of stars, for example, or perhaps from material that collapsed directly into black holes in the early universe.

“In some ways, this is an astrophysical chicken-and-egg problem,” says Professor Zitlin.

“Currently we don't know whether galaxies or black holes formed first, how big the first black holes were, and how they grew.”

“Recently, many more such 'little red dots' and other active galactic nuclei have been detected in the Webb, so we hope to have a better idea soon.”

of the team result appear in the diary Nature.

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LJ Furutak other. High black hole-to-host mass ratio in the lensed AGN of the early Universe. Nature, published online on February 14, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07184-8

Source: www.sci.news

Scientists observe massive outburst from supermassive black hole in far-off galaxy cluster

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Some of the gas erupts from the supermassive black hole located at the center of galaxy cluster SDSS J1531+3414 (abbreviated SDSS J1531) until it reaches a temperature high enough to form numerous star clusters. Cooled down.

Multi-wavelength image of the massive galaxy cluster SDSS J1531+3414.Image credits: NASA / CXC / SAO / Omorui other. / STScI / Tremblay other. / Astron / Loafers / NASA / CXC / SAO / N. Walk.

SDSS J1531 is a huge galaxy cluster containing hundreds of individual galaxies and a huge reservoir of hot gas and dark matter.

At the center of SDSS J1531, two of the cluster's largest galaxies collide with each other.

Surrounding these merging giants are 19 large star clusters called superclusters, arranged in an “S” shape similar to beads on a string.

Dr. Osase Omoruyi and colleagues at Harvard University and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics are using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, the LOFAR radio network, and other telescopes to discover how this chain of unusual star clusters formed. I found out what happened.

The discovery of evidence of an ancient mega-eruption in SDSS J1531 provided important clues.

The eruption may have occurred when a supermassive black hole at the center of one of the large galaxies produced a very powerful jet.

As the jet traveled through space, it pulled surrounding hot gas away from the black hole, creating a huge cavity.

“We're already observing this system as it existed 4 billion years ago, when the Earth was just forming,” Omoruyi said.

“This ancient cavity is a fossil of the black hole's influence on its host galaxy and its surroundings, and tells us about important events that occurred almost 200 million years ago in the history of this star cluster.”

Evidence for the cavity comes from bright X-ray emission “wings” seen on Chandra that track dense gas near the center of SDSS J1531.

These wings form the edges of the cavity, and the less dense gas between them is part of the cavity.

LOFAR shows radio waves from the remains of the jet's energetic particles filling a huge cavity.

Taken together, these data provide convincing evidence for an ancient great explosion.

Astronomers also discovered cold and warm gas near the cavity's opening, detected by the Atacama Large Millimeter and Submillimeter Array (ALMA) and Gemini North Telescope, respectively.

They argue that some of the hot gas pushed out of the black hole eventually cooled down to cold, warm gas.

They believe that the tidal effects of the two galaxies merging compressed the gas along a curved path, forming the star cluster in a “string-bead” pattern.

“We reconstructed the sequence of events that may have occurred within this cluster over a wide range of distances and times,” said Dr. Grant Tremblay, also of Harvard University and the Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

“It started when a black hole, just one light-year in diameter, formed a cavity about 500,000 light-years wide.”

“This single event triggered the formation of young star clusters almost 200 million years later, each several thousand light-years in diameter.”

Although the authors only looked at the radio waves and cavity from one jet, black holes typically fire two jets in opposite directions.

They also observed radio emissions further out from the galaxy that could be the remains of a second jet, but it was unrelated to the detected cavity.

They speculate that radio and X-ray signals from other eruptions may have diminished to the point where they could no longer be detected.

“We believe the evidence for this large-scale eruption is strong, but further observations from Chandra and LOFAR will confirm the case,” Dr. Omoruyi said.

“We hope to learn more about the origins of the cavities we have already detected and find the cavities we expect to find on the other side of the black hole.”

a paper Regarding the survey results, astrophysical journal.

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Omase Omorui other. 2024. A “string bead” star formation associated with one of the most powerful she-AGN outbursts observed in the Cool Core Galaxy Cluster. APJ, in press. arXiv: 2312.06762

Source: www.sci.news

The Sun-Fueled Black Hole: Potential to Shine as the Brightest Object in the Universe

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Researchers have identified a quasar with a black hole at its center that may be the most luminous object in the universe. This quasar is growing at an incredible rate, capable of consuming an amount equivalent to the sun in a single day.

The record-breaking quasar shines 500 trillion times brighter than the sun. Scientists reported in the journal Nature Astronomy that the black hole fueling this quasar is more than 17 billion times more massive than the sun.

Despite appearing as mere dots in images, scientists believe quasars to be formidable entities.

The disk of luminous gas and other material orbiting a quasar’s black hole is akin to a cosmic hurricane.

“This quasar is the most violent place in the universe as we know it,” said lead author Christian Wolff of the Australian National University.

The object, known as J0529-4351, was initially discovered by the European Southern Observatory in 1980 and misclassified as a star. It was not confirmed to be a quasar until last year, after telescope observations in Australia and the Atacama Desert in Chile.

“What’s interesting about this quasar is that it’s hiding in plain sight and was previously misclassified as a star,” said Priyamvada Natarajan of Yale University.

Further analysis revealed that the quasar consumes the equivalent of 370 suns a year, or one sun a day, and the black hole at its center has a mass between 17 billion and 19 billion times that of the sun. More observations are needed to understand its growth rate.

Quasars are located 12 billion light years away and have existed since the beginning of the universe. One light year is 5.8 trillion miles.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Largest black hole energizes the most luminous entity in the cosmos

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Artist's impression of record-breaking quasar J0529-4351

ESO/M.Kornmesser

A quasar 500 trillion times brighter than the Sun has earned the title of the brightest known object in the universe. It appears to be powered by a supermassive black hole that devours a sun-sized mass every day.

Quasars are the centers of galaxies where gas and dust falling into a supermassive black hole emit energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. christian wolff Researchers at the Australian National University in Canberra will discover a new object called J0529-4351 in 2022 by scouring data from the Gaia Space Telescope and looking for extremely bright objects outside the Milky Way that have been mistaken for stars. The brightest quasar was discovered for the first time.

Follow-up observations from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile revealed that it is the brightest object in the universe as we know it.

Wolf and his colleagues used an instrument on the VLT called a spectrometer to analyze the light coming from J0529-4351 and calculate how much was produced by the black hole's swirling disk of gas and matter, called the accretion disk. did. This revealed that J0529-4351 is the fastest growing black hole in the universe, swallowing about 413 solar masses per year, or more than one sun per day.

Using the spectra of these lights, the researchers calculated that the mass of the black hole was between 5 billion and 50 billion solar masses.

Wolf and his colleagues also discovered the brightest quasar to date in 2018, about half as bright as J0529-4351. Wolf believes this new discovery is likely to account for most of the observable sky and remain the record holder for some time. Now, thanks to extensive star catalogs like those created by Gaia, they can be studied in great detail. “This is the largest unicorn we've ever found with the longest horn on its head. I don't think this record will ever be surpassed,” Wolf says.

The quasar's accretion disk appears to be the widest ever known, measuring 7 light-years in diameter. It says this provides a rare opportunity to directly image a black hole and precisely measure its mass. Christine Dunn At Durham University, UK. “This is large enough and bright enough that it can be solved with current equipment,” he says Done. “That means we can more directly measure the mass of this monster black hole. I was very excited about that.”

VLT is currently upgrading its spectroscopic equipment as part of the Gravity+ project, which should allow it to resolve the characteristics of J0529-4351 in detail. This means different parts of a quasar's accretion disk can be distinguished and better understood, but it could take several years, Dunn said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

New Study Reveals the Superfast Spin of the Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

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Sagittarius A*, the 4.3 million solar mass black hole at the center of the Milky Way, spins so fast that space-time around it is warped into the shape of a soccer ball, according to an analysis. Data collected by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and NSF's Carl G. Jansky Very Large Array.

daily other. Sagittarius A* was found to be rotating at 60% of its maximum rotational speed, which is set by matter that cannot travel faster than the speed of light. This image shows Sagittarius A* in X-ray light from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Wisconsin / Bai other.

Black holes have two fundamental properties: mass (weight) and spin (rotational speed).

Determining either of these two values ​​can tell astrophysicists a lot about black holes and their behavior.

Dr. Ruth Daly of Pennsylvania State University and colleagues applied a new method using X-ray and radio data to predict Sagittarius A*'s rotation rate based on how matter moves toward or away from the black hole. Decided.

They discovered that Sagittarius A* rotates at an angular velocity (rotations per second). Its angular velocity is about 60% of its maximum possible value, a limit set by the inability of matter to travel faster than the speed of light.

In the past, different astronomers have used different techniques to estimate the rate of rotation of Sagittarius A*, ranging from not rotating at all to rotating at near maximum speed, with mixed results.

“Our research may help answer the question of how fast our galaxy's supermassive black holes rotate,” said Dr. Daly.

“Our results show that Sagittarius A* is rotating very rapidly, which is interesting and has far-reaching implications.”

A rotating black hole pulls space-time and nearby matter into its surroundings as it rotates. Spacetime around a rotating black hole is also crushed.

If you look down at a black hole from above and follow the barrel of the jet it produces, spacetime is circular.

However, if you look at a rotating black hole from the side, spacetime looks like a soccer ball. The faster the spin, the flatter the football.

The spin of a black hole acts as an important source of energy. When a supermassive black hole rotates, its spin energy can be extracted to produce a parallel outflow, a thin beam of matter such as a jet, but this requires at least some material near the black hole. must exist.

Because of the limited fuel surrounding Sagittarius A*, the black hole has been relatively quiet for the last several thousand years, with a relatively weak jet stream.

But new research shows that this could change as the amount of material increases near Sagittarius A*.

“A collimated jet powered by a galaxy's rotating central black hole could have a significant impact on the galaxy's entire gas supply,” said Michigan State University astronomer Megan Donahue. “This also influences the rate and uniformity with which stars form.”

“Fermi bubbles seen in X-rays and gamma rays around the Milky Way's black hole indicate that the black hole was probably active in the past. Measuring the black hole's rotation is important in this scenario. It's a test.”

To determine Sagittarius A*'s spin, astronomers looked at the black hole's spin and its mass, the nature of the matter near the black hole, and its outflow properties.

The parallel outflow produces radio waves, and the disk of gas surrounding the black hole is responsible for emitting X-rays.

Using this method, the researchers combined data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and NSF's Carl G. Jansky Very Large Array with independent estimates of the black hole's mass from other telescopes. to limit the rotation of the black hole.

“Sagittarius A* offers a special perspective because it is the closest supermassive black hole to us,” said Dr. Anand Lu, an astronomer at McGill University.

“Although it is quiet now, our research shows that in the future it will have an incredibly powerful impact on the matter around it.”

“It could happen in a thousand or million years, or it could happen in our lifetime.”

of study Published in Royal Astronomical Society Monthly Notices.

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Ruth A. Daly et al. 2024. New black hole spin values ​​for Sagittarius A* obtained using the outflow method. MNRAS 527 (1): 428-436; doi: 10.1093/mnras/stad3228

Source: www.sci.news

Ed Dwight, the first black astronaut, finally receives recognition.

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Ed Dwight spent his childhood on a farm on the outskirts of Kansas back in the 1930s. The airfield was nearby, and as a young child, he would often visit to watch the planes and the pilots. Most of the planes were returning from hunting trips, and the inside was stained with blood and empty beer cans on the floor.

“They would say to me, ‘Hey, can you clean my plane? I’ll give you a dime,’” Dwight, 90, recalls. But when he was eight or nine years old, he wanted more than a dime. He wanted to fly.

“My first flight was the most exciting thing in the world,” Dwight says with a laugh. “There were no roads or stop signs. You were free as a bird.”

It took years for Dwight to entertain the thought of becoming a pilot himself. “It was white people’s territory,” he says. But when he saw an image of a black pilot shot down in South Korea on the front page of a newspaper, he immediately decided that he wanted to fly.

With that decision, Dwight set in motion a chain of events that would nearly lead him to become one of the first astronauts. Dwight was hand-picked by President John F. Kennedy’s White House to join Chuck Yeager’s test pilot program at Edwards Air Force Base in California’s Mojave Desert as he rose through the ranks in the Air Force.

US Air Force Colonel Ed Dwight.
Provided by Ed Dwight/National Geographic, via AP

However, after Kennedy’s assassination, Dwight’s path to NASA disappeared and he was not selected for the space program. In recent years, Dwight has finally begun to receive recognition with the release of the new National Geographic Documentary “Space Race,” which tells the story of Dwight, a pioneer who was nearly one of the first black astronauts.

When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit in 1957, it influenced the formation of NASA. Dwight was not initially thinking about becoming an astronaut, but political leaders became conscious of the image that American astronauts could project about American democracy, and then Dwight got an unexpected invitation to train to become an astronaut. He received acclaim for appearing on the covers of black magazines such as Jet and Sepia, but faced hostility by police officers and other developments during his training. Dwight was the only one selected by the White House to train at that time, yet eventually was not among the 14 selected in 1963, following Kennedy’s assassination.

Air Force Col. Ed Dwight sits in the cockpit at the beginning of flight training in 1954.
Provided by Ed Dwight/National Geographic, via AP

Despite not becoming an astronaut, Dwight accomplished many things, including founding a construction company and earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture. He has created sculptures of notable black historical figures and had some of his sculptures flown into space aboard the Orion spacecraft. NASA even named an asteroid after him. For subsequent black astronauts, Dwight serves as an influential figure and is honored to be considered a pioneering black astronaut.

NASA astronaut Victor Glover, from left, Ed Dwight and Leland Melvin, on Thursday in Pasadena, California.
Chris Pizzello/AP

Dwight is filled with gratitude for the experiences he had and the opportunity to meet many influential figures throughout his life. He envisions that astronauts and influential leaders should have the chance to view the Earth from above to understand the futility of racism. “We’re flying around the galaxy in this little ball,” Dwight says.

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New discoveries from the Webb telescope shed light on the origins of supermassive black holes and galaxies

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New insights from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope overturn theories about how black holes shape the universe, reversing the classical theory that black holes formed after the first stars and galaxies appeared. It challenges our understanding. In fact, black holes may have accelerated the birth of new stars during the universe's first 50 million years.

This artist's impression shows the evolution of the universe, starting with the Big Bang on the left and continuing with the emergence of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the Dark Ages of the universe, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

“We know that these monster black holes exist in the centers of galaxies near the Milky Way, but now the big surprise is that they were also present at the beginning of the universe, and that they were like building blocks or seeds of early galaxies. It was something,” he said. Professor Joseph Silk, an astronomer at Johns Hopkins University and the Sorbonne Institute of Astrophysics;

“They've really enhanced everything, including giant amplifiers for star formation. This completely overturns what we previously thought was possible, and how galaxies form. It has the potential to completely shake up our understanding of what happens.”

“The distant galaxies observed by Webb in the early universe appear much brighter than scientists expected, revealing an unusually large number of young stars and supermassive black holes.”

“Conventional wisdom holds that black holes formed after the collapse of supermassive stars, and that galaxies formed after the first stars illuminated the dark early universe.”

But the team's analysis suggests that for the first 100 million years, black holes and galaxies coexisted, influencing each other's fate.

“We argue that the outflow of the black hole crushed the gas clouds and turned them into stars, greatly accelerating the rate of star formation,” Professor Silk said.

“Otherwise, it's very difficult to understand where these bright galaxies came from, because they are typically smaller in the early Universe. Why on earth did they become stars so quickly? Do I need to create one?”

“A black hole is a region of space where gravity is so strong that not even light can escape its attraction.”

“Thanks to this force, they generate powerful magnetic fields that cause violent storms, eject turbulent plasma, and ultimately act like giant particle accelerators.”

“This process may be why Webb's detectors found more black holes and brighter galaxies than scientists expected.”

“We can't fully see these ferocious winds and jets so far away, but we know they must exist because many black holes have been seen in the early universe. I am.”

“The huge wind blowing from the black hole crushes nearby gas clouds, turning them into stars.”

“This is the missing link that explains why these first galaxies are much brighter than we expected.”

According to the research team, there were two stages of the young universe.

In the first stage, star formation was accelerated by high-velocity outflow from the black hole, while in the second stage, the outflow slowed down.

“Hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, a supermassive black hole magnetic storm caused gas clouds to collapse and new stars to form at a rate far exceeding that observed in normal galaxies billions of years later,” Professor Silk said. Ta.

“These powerful outflows moved into energy conservation states, reducing the amount of gas available to form stars within the galaxy, thus slowing star formation.”

“We originally thought that galaxies formed when giant gas clouds collapsed,” Professor Silk said.

“The big surprise was that there was a seed in the middle of that cloud, a large black hole, that helped rapidly turn the inside of that cloud into a star at a much faster rate than we expected. So the first galaxies are incredibly bright.”

of study Published in Astrophysics Journal Letter.

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joseph silk other. 2024. Which came first, a supermassive black hole or a galaxy? Insights from JWST. APJL 961, L39; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad1bf0

Source: www.sci.news

XMM-Newton discovers ultrafast black hole wind in Markarian 817

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Markarian 817 is the Seyfert 1 galaxy located 430 million light-years away in the constellation Draco. Also known as Mrk 817 or QSO J1436+5847, it hosts an active supermassive black hole of 81 million solar masses.

This artist's impression shows super-fast winds blowing from the center of the galaxy Markarian 817. These winds travel at millions of kilometers per hour and remove interstellar gas from vast regions of space. Without this gas, galaxies cannot form new stars, and the black holes at the galaxies' centers have little left to eat. The inset shows what is happening at the center of the galaxy. A supermassive black hole draws in gas from its surroundings to form a hot, brightly lit accretion disk (orange). The wind (white) is caused by a magnetic field within the disk, which causes particles to fly in all directions at incredibly high speeds. These winds effectively block the X-rays (blue) emitted by the extremely hot plasma surrounding the black hole, called the corona.Zack other. Using his X-ray telescope XMM-Newton at ESA, he captured Markarian 817 blowing out super-fast winds. This wind, which lasts for about a year, will have a major impact on star formation in the galaxy. The fact that black holes at the centers of galaxies exhibited fairly average activity levels before generating winds suggests that supervelocity black hole winds are much more common than previously thought. doing. In other words, black holes and their host galaxies strongly influence each other's evolution. Image credit: ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

At the center of every large galaxy is a supermassive black hole whose enormous gravitational pull pulls in gas from its surroundings.

As the gas spirals inward, it collects in a flat accretion disk around the black hole, where it heats up and glows.

Over time, the gas closest to the black hole passes the point of no return and gets swallowed up.

But black holes consume only a portion of the gas that swirls toward them.

While surrounding the black hole, some matter is bounced back into space, much like a messy toddler spilling everything on his plate.

In a more dramatic episode, a black hole turns the entire table upside down. The gas in the accretion disk is thrown off in all directions at such high velocities that it wipes out the surrounding interstellar gas.

This not only deprives the black hole of food, but also means that new stars cannot form over large areas and the structure of the galaxy changes.

Until now, this ultrafast black hole wind had only been detected as coming from a very bright accretion disk at the limit of its ability to pull in matter.

At this time, ESA's XMM-Newton spacecraft detected superfast winds in Markarian 817, a decidedly average galaxy that could be described as “just having a snack.”

“With the fans on the highest setting, we would expect very fast winds,” said Dr. Miranda Zak, an astronomer at the University of Michigan.

“In the galaxy we studied called Markarian 817, the fans were turned on at a lower power setting, but still produced incredibly energetic winds.”

“It is very rare to observe ultrafast winds, and even rarer to detect winds with enough energy to change the properties of the host galaxy.”

“The fact that Markarian 817 produced these winds for about a year, even though it was not particularly active, suggests that the black hole may have changed the shape of its host galaxy much more than previously thought. “This suggests that there is a sex,” said Roman astronomer Elias Cammun. Tre University.

Active galactic nuclei emit high-energy light, including X-rays. Markarian 817 stood out to astronomers because it was extremely quiet.

“The X-ray signal was so weak that I knew I was doing something wrong,” Zak said.

Follow-up observations using ESA's XMM Newton revealed what was actually happening. The superfast winds from the accretion disk acted like a shroud, blocking the X-rays emitted from the black hole's immediate surroundings.

These measurements were supported by observations made with NASA's NuSTAR telescope.

Detailed analysis of X-ray measurements revealed that Markarian 817's center did not send out a single puff of gas, but instead created a gust of wind storm over a wide area of ​​the accretion disk.

The winds lasted for hundreds of days and consisted of at least three distinct components, each traveling at a few percent of the speed of light.

This solves an unsolved puzzle in understanding how black holes and their surrounding galaxies interact with each other.

Many galaxies, including the Milky Way, appear to have large regions around their centers where few new stars form.

This could be explained by black hole winds sweeping away star-forming gas, but this works only if the winds are fast enough, persist long enough, and are produced by black holes at typical activity levels. limited to cases where

“One of the many unresolved problems in black hole research is the problem of achieving detection through long-term observations over many hours to capture important events,” said Dr. Norbert Schartel, a scientist on the XMM-Newton project. says.

“This highlights the paramount importance of the XMM-Newton mission into the future.”

“No other mission can achieve that combination of high sensitivity and the ability to make long, uninterrupted observations.”

a paper Regarding the survey results, Astrophysics Journal Letter.

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Miranda K. Zackother. 2024. Seyfert 1.2 Markarian 817 Hidden Sub-Eddington Feedback Intense Feedback.APJL 962, L1; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad1407

Source: www.sci.news

A black hole’s colossal outburst disrupts the entire galaxy’s equilibrium.

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We all have bad days, with a monumental striptease here or an expression of anger there, but have you ever thrown a tantrum so bad that it upsets the balance of the entire galaxy?

Well, thanks to you, it turned out like this One particularly badly behaved black hole Observed by XMM-Newton Space Observatory.

If you zoom in on any large galaxy, you’ll find a supermassive black hole that pulls in gas from its surroundings with its immense gravity. As the gas spirals inward, it is squeezed into what is known as an accretion disk, a flat disk of gas orbiting around a massive central object.

Over time, the gas closest to the black hole passes through the point of no return and is essentially chewed up by its immense gravity. However, there’s a twist here. The black hole consumes only a portion of this gas and spits the rest back into space.

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Sometimes, like the naughty black hole discovered by XMM Newton, a black hole doesn’t just spew out a small amount of gas, it spews out its entire meal over hundreds of days. The gas in the accretion disk is thrown off in all directions at such high velocities that it completely wipes out the surrounding interstellar gas.

The effect would be so severe that gas would be blown through space and new stars would no longer be able to form. This completely changes the landscape of the surrounding galaxy where the black hole is found.

Accretion disk surrounding black hole slowly pulls in gas – Credit: European Space Agency

Typically, only black holes with very bright accretion disks spew out gas. These brighter disks typically feature faster “black hole winds” that spew out gas.

“It is extremely rare to observe ultrafast winds, and even rarer to detect winds with enough energy to change the properties of the host galaxy,” the co-authors said. Elias CammonAstronomer at Roma Tre University in Italy.

“The fact that Markarian 817 is [the galaxy in question] These winds occurred for about a year but were not particularly active, suggesting that the black hole may be changing the shape of its host galaxy much more than previously thought. ing. ”

For scientists, this research improves our understanding of how black holes and the galaxies around them interact. Many galaxies appear to have large regions around their centers where few new stars form. This may be explained by the black hole’s wind sweeping away star-forming gas.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Recent Discovery of Messier 87 Black Hole Supports Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity

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In April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration resolved the central black hole of the giant elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M 87), known as M87*, the first-ever event horizon-scale black hole. I reported the image. . In a new paper, astronomers present new images of M87* from data collected by the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), the Greenland Telescope, and several other instruments within the EHT. doing. These new images show the shadow of his M87* as predicted by general relativity. Interestingly, the peak brightness of the ring is shifted by about 30 degrees compared to the first image. This is consistent with the theoretical understanding of fluctuations due to turbulent matter around a black hole.

The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration has released new images of M87* from observations taken in April 2018, one year after the first observations in April 2017. The new observations reveal a familiar bright luminescent ring, the same size as the one originally observed. The brightest part of the ring has moved about 30 degrees to the 5 o'clock position compared to the 2017 image. Image credit: EHT Collaboration.

“A fundamental requirement of science is to be able to reproduce results,” says Dr. Keiichi Asada, an astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica.

“The confirmation of the ring in a completely new data set is a major milestone for our collaboration and a strong indication that we are observing the shadow of a black hole and the matter orbiting around it. .”

An image of M87* taken in 2018 is strikingly similar to what astronomers saw in 2017.

They see bright rings of the same size, with a dark central area and one side of the ring brighter than the other.

Because M87*'s mass and distance do not increase appreciably over a human lifetime, general relativity predicts that the diameter of the ring will remain the same from year to year.

The diameter stability measured in the 2017-2018 images strongly supports the conclusion that M87* is well described by general relativity.

“One of the remarkable properties of a black hole is that its radius strongly depends on only one quantity: its mass,” said Dr. Nitika Yadrapalli-Yurku, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“M87* is not a material that gains mass rapidly, so according to general relativity, its radius will change little throughout human history. We see our data confirm this prediction. That's very interesting.”

Although the size of the black hole's shadow did not change between 2017 and 2018, the location of the brightest region around the ring changed significantly.

The bright area rotated about 30 degrees counterclockwise and settled in the lower right part of the ring, at about the 5 o'clock position.

Historical observations of M87* with less sensitive arrays and a small number of telescopes also show that the shadow structure changes from year to year, but with low precision.

Although the 2018 EHT array cannot yet observe jets emerging from M87*, the black hole's axis of rotation predicted from the location of the brightest region around the ring is more consistent with the axis of jets seen at other wavelengths. Masu.

“The biggest change is that the brightness peak has moved around the ring, which is actually the first time in 2019 that “This is what we predicted when we announced the results.”

“According to general relativity, the size of the ring should remain approximately constant, but radiation from the turbulent and messy accretion disk around the black hole causes the brightest parts of the ring to move toward a common center. It wobbles around you.”

“The amount of wobble observed over time can be used to test theories about the magnetic field and plasma environment around the black hole.”

of new results appear in the diary astronomy and astrophysics.

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Collaboration with Event Horizon Telescope. 2024. The persistent shadow of M 87's supermassive black hole. I. Observation, Calibration, Imaging, and Analysis. A&A 681, A79; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202347932

Source: www.sci.news

Potential Discovery of the Lightest Black Hole Ever Seen: A Mysterious Object

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Artist's impression of a pulsar orbiting a black hole – one possible interpretation of the mysterious binary star system

Daniel Hutseller (artsource.nl)

Some 40,000 light-years away, a strange object could be either the heaviest neutron star or the lightest black hole ever seen, and it resides in a mysterious celestial void that astronomers have never directly observed. .

Neutron stars form when a star runs out of fuel and collapses due to gravity, creating a shock wave called a supernova and leaving behind an extremely dense core. Astrophysical calculations show that these nuclei must remain below a certain mass, about 2.2 times the mass of the Sun, or they will collapse further to form a black hole.

However, black holes have only been observed to have a mass more than five times that of the sun, leaving a gap in scale between neutron stars and black holes. Gravitational-wave observatories have observed several dense objects in this gap, but astronomers have never discovered them with conventional telescopes.

now, Ewan Barr Researchers at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy discovered an object with 2.5 times the mass of the Sun by observing pulsars orbiting around it. A pulsar is a neutron star that emits pulses of light at regular millisecond intervals due to a strong magnetic field.

As predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, pulsars emit light with great regularity, but very large nearby objects can distort these rhythms. Dr. Barr and his team were able to calculate the mass of the pulsar's partner by observing the pulsar's pulses for more than a year using his MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa.

“What we've discovered in this binary system appears to go beyond that [upper limit for neutron star mass]This suggests that there is some new physics going on here and that this is either a new type of star, or simply a black hole, the lightest stellar-mass black hole yet discovered. “There will be,” Barr said.

Pulsars are located in globular clusters, which are dense regions of stars and some rare objects that can pass close to each other. These unusual interactions could explain the mysterious object, Barr said.

If it's a black hole, researchers will be able to test theories of gravity that weren't possible before. “A pulsar is just a ridiculously accurate measuring device in orbit around a black hole, but it's not going anywhere. It's going to be around for the next billion years,” Barr says. “So this is an incredibly stable and natural test bed for investigating the physics of black holes.”

“If it's a neutron star, it would be more massive than any neutron star we've ever seen,” he says. Christine Dunn At Durham University, UK. “This actually tells us about the ultimate density that a star can support before it collapses under its own gravity and becomes a black hole. We need to understand the physics of matter at such extreme densities. I don't know what the limits are.”

Barr and his team plan to observe the pulsar with other telescopes over the next few years, looking for clues about what the object is. If it were a black hole, we would see the pulsar's orbit change over time, as the black hole dragged through spacetime around it, much like a ship dragging a small boat behind it. Or if it's a neutron star, more sensitive instruments might be able to detect the light.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Oldest black hole detected by Webb

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NASA/ESA/CSA Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a small, active galaxy within GN-z11, an extremely bright galaxy that existed just 420 million years after the Big Bang, more than 13 billion years ago. detected a black hole. The existence of this multi-million solar mass black hole in the early universe challenges current assumptions about how black holes form and grow.

GN-z11, shown in the inset, was 13.4 billion years ago, just 400 million years after the Big Bang. Image credits: NASA / ESA / P. Oesch, Yale University / G. Brammer, STScI / P. van Dokkum, Yale University / G. Illingworth, University of California, Santa Cruz.

Astronomers believe that supermassive black holes found at the centers of galaxies like the Milky Way have grown to their current size over billions of years.

But the size of this newly discovered black hole suggests that black holes may form in another way. That means black holes could be “born big,” or eat matter five times faster than previously thought.

According to the Standard Model, supermassive black holes form from the remains of dead stars, which can collapse to form black holes about 100 times the mass of the Sun.

If this newly detected black hole grows as expected, it will take about a billion years to grow to its observed size.

However, when this black hole was detected, the universe was less than 1 billion years old.

Dr Roberto Maiolino, an astronomer at the University of Cambridge, said: “Since the last time such a massive black hole has been observed was in the very early days of the universe, we need to consider other ways in which black holes could form.'' Ta.

“Very early galaxies were so rich in gas that they would have been a buffet for black holes.”

Like all black holes, GN-z11's young black hole is accreting matter from its host galaxy to fuel its growth.

But it turns out that this ancient black hole gulped down matter much more energetically than its later cousins.

GN-z11 is a compact galaxy, about 100 times smaller than the Milky Way, but a black hole may be having a negative impact on its development.

When a black hole consumes too much gas, it pushes it away like a super-fast wind.

This “wind” could stop the star formation process and slowly kill the galaxy, but it would also kill the black hole itself, because it would also cut off its source of “food.”

“This is a new era. The huge leap in sensitivity, especially in the infrared, is like upgrading from Galileo's telescope to a modern telescope overnight,” Dr. Maiorino said.

“Before Mr. Webb came online, I thought the universe beyond what the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope could see might not be all that interesting.”

“But that wasn't the case at all. The universe is very generous with what it shows us, and this is just the beginning.”

“Webb's sensitivity means that even older black holes may be discovered in the coming months or years,” he added.

“We hope to use Webb's future observations to find smaller 'seeds' of black holes. We hope to find out the different ways in which black holes form – do they start out large? “It may help us understand the different ways black holes can form, such as whether they grow rapidly or whether they grow quickly.”

a paper The survey results were published in a magazine Nature.

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R. Maiolino other. A small, active black hole that existed in the early universe. Nature, published online on January 17, 2023. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07052-5

Source: www.sci.news

Detailed Image of Black Hole Unveiled in New Fiery Donut Visualization

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The image on the right is the latest and best image of a black hole.

EHT collaboration

Thanks to an update to the world’s first black hole image taken a year later, we now have the most detailed observation of a black hole to date.

In 2019, researchers released an image of the supermassive black hole known as M87*, located 55 million light-years away at the center of galaxy M87. The image, the world’s first glimpse of a black hole, was taken during the first observations in 2017 by a network of radio astronomical observatories around the world called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT).

Now, the EHT collaboration has released tracking images of M87* taken during 2018 observations using additional telescopes in Greenland.

As the name suggests, these objects do not emit light, so the light in the image does not come out of the black hole. What we see instead is the silhouette of a black hole at the center of a mass of hot material, pulled inward by its powerful gravity.

“This image tells us that the black hole’s shadow is permanent and still exists,” says the EHT scientist. Eduardo Ross. “You can see that the ring is a beautiful circle. It’s very circular, not an oval or anything. We also see an enhancement on the south side in this ring, which is what we expected.”

This enhancement, visible as a slightly bright glow under the slightly displaced shadow of M87*, is due to the distortion of space-time associated with the black hole’s rotation (as explained by Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity). This is due to

The additional telescopes have slightly increased the resolution of the images, greatly increasing the amount of data that can be cross-referenced with observations from other telescopes. However, less than ideal weather made viewing conditions difficult. This means the resolution is not as high as theoretically expected, Ross says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Researchers Develop Large Quantum Vortex to Replicate Black Hole Properties

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Researchers created tornado-like vortices in superfluid helium

Yoshigin/Shutterstock

Giant quantum vortices could allow researchers to study black holes. This vortex is a special form of liquid helium vortex that exhibits quantum effects. The result has some properties similar to a black hole and acts as a kind of simulator.

In the region around a black hole, the laws of gravity and quantum mechanics interact, producing effects that cannot be observed elsewhere in the universe. This makes these regions particularly important to study. “There are interesting physics happening around black holes, but many of them are out of our reach,” he says. Silke Weinfurtner at the University of Nottingham, UK. “Thus, we can use these quantum simulators to investigate phenomena that occur around black holes.”

To build the quantum simulator, Weinfurtner and his colleagues used superfluid helium, which flows at a very low viscosity, 500 times lower than water. Because it moves without friction, this form of helium exhibits unusual quantum effects and is known as a quantum fluid. The researchers filled a tank with helium with a rotating propeller at the bottom. As the propeller rotated, a tornado-like vortex was generated in the fluid.

“Similar vortices have been created in physical systems other than superfluid helium, but their strength is generally at least several orders of magnitude weaker,” he says. Patrick Svanchara, is also enrolled at the University of Nottingham and is part of the team. The strength and size of the vortex are critical to producing an interaction significant enough to observe between the vortex and the remaining fluid in the tank.

The vortices in this work were a few millimeters in diameter, much larger than other stable vortices created to date. quantum fluid In the past. In quantum liquids, rotation only occurs in tiny “packets” called quanta, which are essentially tiny vortices, so creating such large vortices is difficult. Many of them tend to become unstable when clustered, but the experimental setup here allows the researchers to combine about 40,000 rotating quanta to form what is called a giant quantum vortex. It's done.

“This is an experimental masterpiece,” he says Jeff Steinhauer He received his PhD from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, a pioneer in laboratory simulations of black holes. “They took a very well-established, old, classic technology called superfluid helium and did something really new with it, significantly increasing their technical capabilities compared to what had been done in the past. .”

The researchers observed how small waves in the fluid interacted with vortices. This process mimics the way the universe's cosmic field interacts with a rotating black hole. They discovered hints of a black hole phenomenon called ringdown mode. This phenomenon occurs after two black holes combine and the resulting single black hole is shaken by the residual energy of the combination.

Now that it has been established that this type of vortex exhibits behavior similar to that seen in black holes, researchers plan to use quantum vortices to study more elusive phenomena. “This is an excellent starting point for investigating some black hole physics processes, seeking new insights and potentially discovering hidden treasures along the way,” Weinfurtner says. .

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Scientists Suggest the Possibility of Creating Batteries from Tiny Black Holes

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small black hole battery

Following the feedback discussion on New Zealand’s Blackhole public toilets (25 November 2023), news has arrived of a plan called “Using black holes as secondary batteries and nuclear reactors” published in the magazine Physical Review D.

Successful engineers, much like unsuccessful engineers, are not easily intimidated by limitations that others believe are insurmountable. The plan’s authors, Zhan-Feng Mai and Run-Qiu Yang of Tianjin University in China, continue to keep their jaws high and scratch their heads.

They say, “The strong gravity of a black hole prevents classical matter from escaping from it, but fortunately energy can be extracted from a black hole through quantum or classical processes.” he wrote.

They wave away a series of problems that are said to plague anyone who even proposes to get close to a black hole. They state that their black hole is a “mini black hole”.

This kind of confidence inspires venture capitalists, a diverse group of people who are experiencing the golden age of the early 2020s. After raising capital and extracting a suitable portion from it, many people are looking for new big opportunities to invest some of it.

Black hole batteries could be their next big thing, following in the capricious footsteps of cryptocurrencies and artificial intelligence. Many investors are finding both to be as compellingly attractive as black holes.

2 story superpower

Alison Litherland tells the story of a boring superpower with useful duplicity.

she says: “When you mentioned Rosemary Fuhrman’s husband’s ability to read her two pages in different Braille at the same time (September 16, 2023), I was reminded of the small superpowers she had when her children were small. I remembered my abilities.

“I was able to read a bedtime story aloud to her while at the same time quietly reading a novel to herself. I don’t know how my brain was able to distinguish between the two stories, but… It certainly helped with the boredom of re-reading the same story before bed.”

confused coffee

This medical journal headline features a discussion of ambiguity. Coffee and heart failure: Additional potential beneficial effects of coffee”.

The title rests on a letter to the editor from Anna Vittoria Mattioli and Alberto Farinetti of the University of Modena-Reggio Emilia in Italy. The diary is Nutrition, metabolism and cardiovascular disease.

Mattioli and Farinetti explore some of the ambiguity in medical research and medical pronouncements regarding the positive and negative health effects of drinking coffee.

Some people drink espresso in some places, while others drink other forms of coffee. Some people drink coffee filtered, while others drink it unfiltered.

Some people drink coffee “in conjunction with a meal” in some places, while others drink coffee on its own. Some men are men and others are not, and there may be differences in “absorption of macronutrients and micronutrients and their bioavailability.”

Mattioli and Farinetti suggest further research is needed to “de-confound” under confusing headings.

edge on edge

Sam Edge is offended by the paper featured in a previous feedback column (November 4, 2023).New insights into the genetics of twins and southern hemisphere whorls”. Sam feels horrified by the attention the newspaper has received.

he says: “The old chestnut about drainage circulation rears its head again. I see. Given the very small volume and mass involved in hair, and the fact that people spend a significant amount of time moving around in non-vertical positions, it is absurd to suggest that the Coriolis force could be responsible for the swirling of hair. The Coriolis force is responsible for the surprising twist in how objects appear to move when they rotate Please remember that.

Feedback hopes Edge won’t get nervous knowing there’s a new version of the paper. The title this time is “Genetic determinism and hemispheric influence in whorl formation‘ Appears in ‘Journal of Stomatology, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

The new version gives a meandering nod to the Coriolis question, this time at a distance. “Other non-hemispheric factors are [be] Maternal health, maternal nutrition, and prenatal hormone exposure were evaluated in samples from different locations in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, before considering the potential influence of hemispheric environmental physical factors such as the Coriolis force. I did.”

Sheffield names the harvest

Susan Frank is second to none when it comes to sharing information about garden varieties.

She writes: “We wanted to include the names of two of our trustees associated with Sheffield Botanic Gardens Trust, Barbara Plant and Christine Rose.”

According to feedback, Sheffield Botanic Gardens Trust Website Trustee Miles Stevenson, who is neither a plant nor a rose, makes it clear (by displaying special information in parentheses) that it is a chair.

Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers. his website is impossible.com
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Majority of large fishing vessels are not identified as ‘black vessels’ through tracking

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The vast majority of the world's industrial fishing vessels are not publicly tracked. Three-quarters of the world's large fishing vessels and one-quarter of transport and energy vessels are “dark vessels” that do not share their location publicly. The discovery comes from analyzing satellite imagery using artificial intelligence, an approach that could help better track human activities that impact the ocean.

“We had this idea that we were missing a large part of the activity that was happening in the ocean, but we didn't know how much we were missing,” he says. Fernando Paolo At Global Fishing Watch, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC. “And it turned out to be so much more than we had imagined.”

Paolo et al. used satellite images taken between 2017 and 2021 covering coastal areas where large-scale fishing and other industrial activities occur most often, revealing objects regardless of clouds or darkness. (including radar images that can be used). The researchers trained several AIs to detect and classify boats and marine structures in this dataset.

Researchers compared the ship's global map with a database of ships that publicly broadcast their locations and found that the vast majority did not have automatic identification systems turned on. Such identification is not always required, but if it is not used, it may indicate illegal fishing or other activity.

An AI learned to distinguish fishing boats from other types of boats based on their movement patterns and location. It found that 42 to 49 percent of approximately 63,000 ships fell into this category.

Other AI has identified 28,000 offshore structures related to wind power and oil production, with rapidly growing swarms of offshore wind turbines outnumbering oil infrastructure such as oil rigs. Although such activities other than offshore development and fishing boats are expanding, fishing activity is almost “at its limit,” he said. david kurzma At Global Fishing Watch.

“We have to plan for all non-fishing activities because we are encroaching on fishing grounds,” Krusma said. “The ocean is becoming increasingly crowded, so we need to consider how everything fits together.”

Publicly available satellite images do not have the resolution to detect small fishing boats less than 20 meters in length. Konstantin Kremer with microsoft Esther Rolfe at Harvard University Nature Articles commenting on research. But they said such efforts could improve monitoring of human activity near protected areas and unregulated parts of the ocean.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Astrophysicist from Princeton solves the enigma of black hole jets and galactic ‘lightsabers’

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Princeton researchers have found that the M87* black hole emits energy outward, contributing to the formation of a giant jet. This discovery challenges traditional views about black holes and may be further tested with advanced telescopes. This new understanding opens up new avenues in comprehending black hole dynamics, though the source of the jet’s power is not definitively explained. This research was conducted with the support of the Princeton Gravity Initiative, a Taplin Fellowship, the National Science Foundation (grant 2307888), and a Simons Foundation Investigator Award.

The findings were published in the Astrophysical Journal on November 14, 2023. The research was spearheaded by Princeton astrophysicists including Andrew Chael, Alexandru Lupsasca, George N. Wong, and Eliot Quataert. With origins in Einstein’s theory of relativity, the researchers made intricate observations involving the black hole and its magnetic field to decipher the direction of energy flow. The researchers found that energy near the event horizon of black hole M87* is pushing outward rather than inward. They also verified the prediction that black holes lose rotational energy.

The researchers have concluded that while it is very likely that the black hole is powering the jet, it cannot be proven conclusively. Furthermore, the team has not conclusively shown that the black hole’s rotation “really powers the extragalactic jet.” Though the energy levels shown in their model were consistent with what a jet would require, they could not rule out the possibility that the jet could be powered by spinning plasma outside the black hole. Nevertheless, it is expected that the next generationEvent Horizon Telescope will further explore and confirm these findings.

The research team was also awarded the 2024 New Horizons Prize in Physics from the Breakthrough Prize Foundation for their black hole research. The research was also supported by a Taplin Fellowship, the National Science Foundation, a Simons Foundation Investigator Award as well as by the Princeton Gravity Initiative.

Source: scitechdaily.com

Black Holes’ Eating Habits: A Surprising Revelation

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An imaginary diagram of the interstellar medium distribution of active galactic nuclei based on current observation results. Dense molecular gas from the galaxy flows along the disk’s surface toward the black hole. The energy generated by the high temperature of the material accumulated around the black hole destroys molecular gas, converting it into atoms and plasma. Most of these multiphase interstellar mediums are jets flowing outward from the galactic center (mainly plasma jets occur directly above the disk, and mainly atomic and molecular jets occur at an angle). However, it turns out that most of the particles flow back into the disk like a fountain. Credit: ALMA (ESO/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan/Nuclear Astronomical Observatory), T. Izumi et al.

Recent advances in astrophysics have led to groundbreaking observations of gas flows around supermassive black holes. These observations were made with great detail. light years Important insights into the behavior of these giant universes have been revealed. Remarkably, the researchers found that while large amounts of gas are attracted to these black holes, only a small portion (about 3 percent) is actually consumed. The remaining gas is ejected and recycled back to the host galaxy.

Not all substances fall into this. Black Hole It is absorbed, but some is excreted as effluent. However, it has been difficult to measure the ratio between the amount of material that a black hole “eats” and the amount that it “falls into.”

An international research team led by Assistant Professor Takuma Izumi of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan is developing the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (alma telescope) Observe a supermassive black hole in the Circus Galaxy, 14 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Circus. This black hole is known to be actively feeding.

The center of the Silcinus galaxy observed with ALMA. Carbon monoxide (CO; indicating the presence of a medium-density molecular gas) is shown in red. Atomic carbon (C; indicates the presence of an atomic gas) in blue. Green is hydrogen cyanide (HCN; indicating the presence of a dense molecular gas). Pink hydrogen recombination line (H36α; indicating the presence of ionized gas). The central dense disk of gas (green) is about 6 light-years wide. The plasma outflow proceeds almost perpendicular to the disk. Credit: ALMA (ESO/National Astronomical Observatory of Japan/Nuclear Astronomical Observatory), T. Izumi et al.

ALMA’s role in solving the mystery of black holes

Thanks to ALMA’s high resolution, the research team was able to measure the inflow and outflow around a black hole for the first time on a scale of several light years. By measuring the flow of gases in different states (molecules, atoms, and states), plasma) The team was able to determine the overall feeding efficiency of the black hole and found it to be only about 3%. The researchers also confirmed that gravitational instability is driving the influx.

The analysis also showed that most of the ejected outflow was not fast enough to escape from the galaxy and be lost. They are recycled into the perinuclear region around the black hole and begin falling slowly towards the black hole again.

Reference: “Feeding and feedback of supermassive black holes are observed at subparsec scale” Takuma Izumi, Keiichi Wada, Masatoshi Imanishi, Koichiro Nakanishi, Kotaro Kono, Yuki Kudo, Daiki Kawamuro, Shunsuke Baba, Naoki Matsumoto , Yutaka Fujita, Conrad R.W. Tristram, 2 November 2023 science.
DOI: 10.1126/science.adf0569

This research was funded by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Source: scitechdaily.com

Black British entrepreneurs face challenges but remain resilient

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Black founders in the UK are also seeing the effects of winter on their ventures.

According to one study, black founders in the UK have raised just 0.95% of all venture funding allocated in the country so far this year (or just $165 million out of about $17.3 billion). new report Written by Extend Ventures. 2023 would then be a year in the making, compared to 2022, when such founders raised 1.02% of all domestic venture investments ($316 million out of $30.88 billion), and 2022, when such founders raised 1.13% ($40 billion) of all domestic venture investments. This will be later than in 2021, when $454 million of the $30 million was allocated.

There has been a clear and consistent decline since 2020, when George Floyd was murdered, and global support and pressure to support Black communities has increased. The downward trend in the proportion of investments allocated to black founders is likely due to the venture recession of the past two years.

George Windsor, a data and research strategist who worked on the report, said black people make up 2.5% of the UK population and being properly represented in the venture ecosystem means they receive at least 2.5% of funding. will go to black-led businesses, he said.

Still, the achievement rate is 0.95% compared to 10 years ago, showing that progress is being made.

For example, just 0.28% of black UK founders raised venture funding in 2019, 0.23% in 2018 and 0.38% in 2017. According to Extend Ventures, between 2009 and 2019, only 38 Black founders were able to raise venture funding. In Japan. That number is now 80.

Even black women are doing better. Between 2009 and 2019, Extend discovered only the following: One Black women have raised more than $1 million in venture funding. Between 2019 and 2023, eight women did so.

Windsor said this progress is due to a myriad of factors, including “the growing awareness of racism, discrimination and inequality sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement and the killing of George Floyd.”

Extend co-founder Tom Adeyoola told TechCrunch that it also helps that there is less backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the UK compared to the US.

“The UK values ​​slow and steady reform, rather than consequential, hollow, haphazard action. The desire for change here is deep-rooted and focused on systemic action. ” he said. “That said, if you look for anti-DEI rhetoric, you can find it in discussions and newspaper headlines about removing these roles from the civil service. I don’t know if it’s getting the public’s attention as we continue to highlight how much loss of growth is hurting the economy due to bias.”

The Extend report also found that although women of color still face challenges entering the industry, there has been a 100% increase in the rate of people from minority backgrounds becoming investors. It was also revealed that

Earlier this year, the UK Treasury Select Committee acknowledged the lack of investment in minorities and women in technology and looked at ways to increase investment.

Maintaining this momentum will require new initiatives and strengthening of existing ones, Adeyola said. “The data shows that it is very important to track cohorts and understand which companies receive funding beyond the early stages,” he said. “We need to make sure that appropriate measures are in place at the level of following companies.”

Source: techcrunch.com

Transforming Autobiographies into Interactive Black History Lessons with GenAI

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We often talk about the negative aspects of AI, but what about the positive aspects, such as being able to interact with authors and historical figures based on feeding their writing into large-scale language models? james lowry He may not be a household name, but his history is part of the black experience in America. Lowry grew up in Chicago, spent time in the Peace Corps in the early 1960s, and was the first black person hired as a consultant at McKinsey in 1968.

He has dedicated his life to getting major companies to invest in historically underrepresented communities. He has recently published books such as: change agent. Looking at his life. His partner at Upfront Ventures, General Kobie Fuller, is turning to a customized approach to generative AI (which he calls his Kobie AI) as a way to reimagine blog posts as an interactive medium. It is working.

He has experimented with several themes, from bartending to emotions in marketing. The latest one is Jim Lowry AI for DEI. He fed Lowry’s book into a large-scale language model to allow users to ask questions about diversity, equity, and inclusion. The results were impressive. Fuller says he has the privilege of speaking with Fuller whenever he wants, and that this technology uniquely gives others that ability.

“This book is amazing. It basically presents the book in this interactive format where you can explore all the greatness of the gym,” Fuller told TechCrunch.

Lowry says he wrote the book as a way to educate people about his experiences in the world, but not everyone will read the book, and it’s important to note that AI will allow people to share their experiences in the world. He also recognizes that it gives him an opportunity to understand the department. In his life, you don’t have to read 300 pages, just ask a question.

American business consultant James Rowley became the first black consultant at McKinsey in 1968.

james lowry Image credits: boston consulting group

“I thought this would be powerful in terms of sharing the insights and wisdom that I’ve accumulated over the years with a lot of people. Even if people buy a book, they don’t necessarily read the entire book. No. What I would say is, I think using AI in this way is another part of this effort that is very powerful,” Rowley said.

This AI starts with a prompt asking the user to get started.

I have dedicated my life to working in DEI, and I understand that this story is very sensitive for many people. If you have any questions, we’re here. I also get to share some wisdom from my life’s journey. what’s on your mind?

Then you ask questions, and the answers you get are surprisingly sophisticated, perhaps because they’re based on what Laurie actually says and does. Students, historians, DEI experts, or anyone interested can ask questions about DEI issues and get detailed answers. You can also ask about specific experiences in Lowry’s life, such as meeting Senator Robert F. Kennedy while serving in the Peace Corps. -1960s.

This gives people the opportunity to interact with Lowery through his work, which will remain his legacy and pass on to future generations as an educational tool to understand his experiences as a Black man working in American business. It will be given to you.

While Fuller is researching this technology, he’s excited about the power of generative AI and how it can help people make sense of other people’s experiences, and perhaps even help others. It shows how it can be used to serve as a vehicle for interacting with important experiences. Historical figure.

Source: techcrunch.com

Eastern China’s Rare Black Hedgehog Becomes a New Science Enthusiast

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This new species of hedgehog has darker brown fur, spines, and slightly larger ears than the European hedgehog.

Zookey

Scientists have identified a new species of hedgehog. It is a dark brown creature that lives in the forests of eastern China.

In 2018, Kai He Researchers from Guangzhou University in China encountered strange-looking hedgehogs in Anhui and Zhejiang provinces. Compared to the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), these had dark brown fur and spines, and slightly larger ears.

After analyzing seven animals, including DNA samples, the researchers concluded that they belonged to a species that had not previously been described scientifically, which they named the species. Mesechinus orientalis.

The other four known species are mesechinus This genus is mainly found in northern China, Mongolia, and Russia, but this species M. Hugi I live in southwestern China.

“It is very interesting that this forest hedgehog was found more than 1000 kilometers from its known range,” he says.

They weigh just under 340 grams and have an average length of 18.8 centimeters. M. orientalis It is slightly smaller than other known hedgehogs of its genus.

Like other hedgehogs, M. orientalis They are nocturnal and tend to feed on insects and fruits. They also hibernate in the winter.

So far, the team has discovered M. orientalis In two provinces of China. However, based on the numbers recorded so far, they are not considered endangered, He said, estimating there are probably a few hundred individuals in these states. are doing.

There were only 17 known species of hedgehogs in the world, so “we were really happy to add one more species,” he says.

“For a real hedgehog geek like me, this is amazing news,” he says. Sophie Rand Rasmussen at Oxford University. “We look forward to learning more about the ecology of this species and whether this is different compared to other hedgehog species in the country.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Uber Brings London’s Iconic Black Taxis to its Ridesharing Service

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Uber has scored another victory against the struggling taxi industry. London passengers will soon be able to hail one of the city’s iconic black taxis.

Taxi drivers in London can now start signing up for Uber’s travel referrals, but the service won’t be rolled out until early 2024. Uber says some drivers have already begun to express interest in being featured on the app.

Uber has been steadily signing deals with taxi fleet owners to bring the traditional taxi industry into its app. The ride-hailing giant recently signed deals with taxi fleets in Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, and Rome to list their drivers on the app. Uber says taxi drivers now make more than 10% of Uber rides in Europe and the Middle East.

Whether London’s black taxi drivers will sign up for Uber in droves is another story.

Steve McNamara, a spokesperson for the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association, an industry group representing 10,000 drivers, said in a statement that the group is “partnering with London’s iconic and world-famous black taxi industry. “I had no interest in tarnishing its name.” Uber, its poor safety record, and everything else that comes with it.”

McNamara also said he wasn’t aware of drivers signing up for Uber and didn’t expect Uber to catch on, given Uber’s reputation for safety and worker rights. He said the group was not consulted before Uber’s announcement.

With London’s black cabs, you don’t necessarily have to hail an Uber on-demand via an app. Taxis are available through other apps such as Gett, Taxiapp, FreeNow, and ComCab. So Uber is trying to enter the market with other services as well.

In order to gain more market share and increase the stability of the app, Uber is making available additional transport bookings on its UK app, such as intercity trains, Eurostar, National Express, car rentals, and even airline tickets. I did it like this.

Uber’s Black Taxi Drivers receive regular taxi rides at upfront rates You can choose to accept or decline travel destinations. All new drivers benefit from 0% commission for their first 6 months. This can quickly increase sign-ups before commissions are raised to their normal range (around 20%-30%).

Source: techcrunch.com

Newly Discovered Black Hole Found in New Zealand Restroom

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black hole butt

Roger Sharp added another item to his summary of feedback about black holes that can be found on surface maps of our planet (October 7).visitors to Nelson’s Mai Tai Esplanade ReserveNew Zealanders may feel relieved after entering a Blackhole public toilet.

Feedback points out that installing a toilet in an astrophysical black hole would eliminate the need for some expensive parts of modern waste treatment facilities, particularly sewage piping systems and septic tanks.

insert a needle into the patient

How far is it okay to insert a needle a little too deeply into someone’s abdomen? 365 surgeons from 58 European countries gave their opinion on this topic. Their thoughts, desires, and perhaps even dreams are distilled into a study called “.Relevance of Veres needle overshoot reductionBy researchers from the Netherlands and Malta.

These are the needles used to inflate the patient before performing the internal looking and subsequent cutting and manipulation tasks that are the highlight of most laparoscopic surgeries. A special type of needle called a Veres needle has long been the standard device for puncturing and injecting air into people who enter a shop for repairs. This performs much the same function as a simple type of needle used to inflate a soccer ball.

This study investigates the desire and need for a new and better Veress needle design.

The researchers said that surgeons “felt it was important to have a firm grip on the needle shaft, as most respondents held the needle rather than the grip.” The reason is that some surgeons try to stabilize their hands by touching the abdominal wall with their fingers during insertion, and the grip is too far from the abdominal wall. The data also shows that the maximum overshoot should be limited to 0 to 10 mm. ”

Almost every professional activity has a specific tolerance for error. Publication of this paper will make the public more aware of professionals’ general tolerance for overinsertion of injection needles in laparoscopic surgery patients.

goaf gangue

Unfamiliar scientific terminology can be fun, especially when the words are mined from depths that are unfamiliar to most people.

The same goes for gangue and goaf. He came across the feedback while reading a report by Zhanshan Shi of China’s Liaoning University of Technology and colleagues.Simulation test study on filling flow law of gangue slurry in goaf”.

Goaf is the waste that accumulates during mining. Gangue is a seemingly worthless portion of ore extracted from a mine. Goaf necessarily has gangue.

There are also mysteries. The report states that “there is little research on flow rules for gangue slurries in the Goahu sedimentary rock mass.”

This report is a reminder that there is always something yet to be unearthed, even if it is just information.

wooden board

In the vast forest of nominative determinism of people whose names are hilarious and almost eerily related to work, a few trees, namely the names of some people, are particularly suited to the purpose. One is Marlin E. Plank, who served as a forest products research technician at his Pacific Northwest Research Station in Portland, Oregon. He spent much of his professional life estimating how much commercially useful wood could be obtained from certain types of trees.

Stewart Harrison told Feedback of his joy upon discovering Planck’s 1982 paper.Harvesting wood from ponderosa pines in western Montana”.

A trip through the library found more plankitudes, including a plank on a log.Estimating the volume of small-diameter logs of ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine”.

Planck’s most sophisticated log paper may be the one he co-authored with Floyd Johnson in 1975 called .Empirical log rules for Douglas fir in western Oregon and western Washington”. This describes a better way, a low-key and practical way to estimate how much wood you will get if a tree is plank-harvested.

Plank and Johnson said: “The traditional procedure for estimating timber aggregates is based on theoretical log rules, defect deductions, and overrun factors. This procedure is indirect, subjective, and complex. It is also clearly inaccurate. Theory A better procedure is described that is based on actual wood recovery rather than the wood recovery above.”

Planck passed away in 2014. The Planck memorial website says:To plant a tree in your memory, visit the Sympathy Store.”.

Blindfold measures

Greg Rubin squints at a fellow computer security expert who warns that information on a video screen can be extracted from the reflections of video chatters’ glasses (October 28).

he says: “This is what my community has.” is known about For many years. I also sometimes comment on the reflections I see during video calls. Personally, I recommend using simple defense strategies for long and boring conference calls. Close your eyes and take a nap. ”

Mark Abrahams hosted the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony and co-founded the magazine Annals of Improbable Research. Previously, he was working on unusual uses of computers.his website is impossible.com.

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