Well, I feel a little foolish. I thought the EHT picture was of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*. I'm a little confused, because I know I read something in the last week indicating such. But apparently it is of the SMB at the center of galaxy M87. It does not (yet) have a snappy name I am aware of.
EDIT: See @Iku_Nagae 's comment further down. Unofficially, the name M87* seems to be gaining some traction as well.
Well, I feel a little foolish. I thought the EHT picture was of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, Saggitarius A*. I'm a little confused, because I know I read something in the last week indicating such. But apparently it is of the SMB at the center of galaxy M87. It does not (yet) have a snappy name I am aware of.
I think I'm reading the same article you did, and I can understand where you got confused. ATM I think this black hole is being refered to as M87 because it is the heart of the galaxy Messier 87
Well, I feel a little foolish. I thought the EHT picture was of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, Saggitarius A*. I'm a little confused, because I know I read something in the last week indicating such. But apparently it is of the SMB at the center of galaxy M87. It does not (yet) have a snappy name I am aware of.
According to the NYT article, the EHT guys imaged both Sagittarius A* and M87* back in 2017, over the same time period. To my knowledge, the Sagittarius A* data hasn't been released yet.
EDIT: It's worth mentioning that there's a good chance that the data from our own galaxy's black hole was simply insufficient for making any kind of usable image. Even though Sagittarius A* is a supermassive black hole with four million solar masses, it's utterly dwarfed by the monstrosity that is M87* (six billion solar masses), so the vast difference in distance (M87* is about two thousand times farther away) doesn't actually affect the angular resolution much. The more significant factor, as far as the EHT is concerned, is how much energy the black holes emit for our telescopes to pick up; Sagittarius A* is relatively quiet, but M87* is spectacularly active, to the extent of expelling hot plasma into intergalactic space. A brighter object makes for a better picture.
According to the NYT article, the EHT guys imaged both Sagittarius A* and M87* back in 2017, over the same time period. To my knowledge, the Sagittarius A* data hasn't been released yet.
EDIT: It's worth mentioning that there's a good chance that the data from our own galaxy's black hole was simply insufficient for making any kind of usable image. Even though Sagittarius A* is a supermassive black hole with four million solar masses, it's utterly dwarfed by the monstrosity that is M87* (six billion solar masses), so the vast difference in distance (M87* is about two thousand times farther away) doesn't actually affect the angular resolution much. The more significant factor, as far as the EHT is concerned, is how much energy the black holes emit for our telescopes to pick up; Sagittarius A* is relatively quiet, but M87* is spectacularly active, to the extent of expelling hot plasma into intergalactic space. A brighter object makes for a better picture.
How are black holes capable of expelling anything?
How are black holes capable of expelling anything?
I believe the method described here refers to the matter being drawn in undergoing fusion as it's compressed around the Event Horizon. It's like the black hole is wearing a star shaped like a hoola-hoop.
How are black holes capable of expelling anything?
Not the black hole itself, but the accretion disk of matter spiraling into the black hole. As the matter falls inward, it radiates away tremendous amounts of energy, and in some black holes, this process accelerates particles away at relativistic velocities along the axis of rotation. That's the layman's answer, anyway.
It bears restating that nothing is escaping from beyond the black hole's event horizon. All the matter being expelled is stuff that was falling inwards but got kicked out by the tremendous forces generated by the black hole's growth process.
Well, I feel a little foolish. I thought the EHT picture was of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, Saggitarius A*. I'm a little confused, because I know I read something in the last week indicating such. But apparently it is of the SMB at the center of galaxy M87. It does not (yet) have a snappy name I am aware of.
It does now... Powehi -- a Hawaiian phrase referring to an "embellished dark source of unending creation." Very fitting.
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