. Medical and Hospital News .




TIME AND SPACE
Gas promises bumper black hole weigh-in
by Staff Writers
Oxford UK (SPX) Feb 04, 2013


The new method, when combined with new telescopes such as ALMA (Attacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array), promises to extend this black hole 'weigh-in' to thousands of distant galaxies.

A new way of measuring the mass of supermassive black holes could revolutionise our understanding of how they form and help to shape galaxies.

The technique, developed by a team including Oxford University scientists, can spot the telltale tracer of carbon monoxide within the cloud of gas (mostly hydrogen) circling a supermassive black hole at the centre of a distant galaxy. By detecting the velocity of the spinning gas they are able to 'weigh' (determine the mass) of the black hole.

Detailed information on supermassive black holes, thought to be at the heart of most galaxies, is scarce: it has taken 15 years to measure the mass of just 60. The problem is that most other supermassive black holes are too far away to examine properly even with the Hubble Space Telescope.

The new method, when combined with new telescopes such as ALMA (Attacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array), promises to extend this black hole 'weigh-in' to thousands of distant galaxies. It will also enable the study of black holes in spiral galaxies (similar to our own Milky Way), which are hard to target using currently available techniques.

A report of the research is published in this week's Nature.

The team demonstrated the new technique on the supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy, NGC 4526, in the constellation of Virgo. NGC 4526 was chosen as a test because it has been widely studied but the team believe the technique will work on a wide range of different galaxies.

Tim Davis of the European Southern Observatory, lead author of the paper, said: 'We observed carbon monoxide molecules in the galaxy we were monitoring using the Combined Array for Research in Millimetre-wave Astronomy (CARMA) telescope. With its super-sharp images we were able to zoom right into the centre of the galaxy and observe the gas whizzing around the black hole.

This gas moves at a speed which is determined by the black-hole's mass, and the distance from it. By measuring the velocity of the gas at each position, we can measure the mass of the black hole.'

Dr Michele Cappellari of Oxford University's Department of Physics, an author of the paper, said: 'Because of the limitations of existing telescopes and techniques we had run out of galaxies with supermassive black holes to observe.

Now with this new technique and telescopes like ALMA we will be able to examine the relationship between thousands of more distant galaxies and their black holes giving us an insight into how galaxies and black holes co-evolve. Importantly our 'weigh-in' technique will work for all kinds of galaxies, including spiral galaxies which are particularly difficult to observe with previous techniques.'

Dr Martin Bureau of Oxford University's Department of Physics, an author of the paper, said: 'The ALMA telescope is now in the final stages of construction and our team is currently bidding for time to use it for our black hole survey. If all goes according to plan we could begin our survey by the end of this year.'

.


Related Links
University of Oxford
Understanding Time and Space






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle




Memory Foam Mattress Review

Newsletters :: SpaceDaily Express :: SpaceWar Express :: TerraDaily Express :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News

Get Our Free Newsletters
Space - Defense - Environment - Energy - Solar - Nuclear

...





TIME AND SPACE
New method of measuring the mass of supermassive black holes
Hertfordshire UK (SPX) Feb 01, 2013
In a letter to Nature, an international team of astronomers, including Marc Sarzi from the University of Hertfordshire, report the exciting discovery of a new way to measure the mass of supermassive black holes in galaxies. By measuring the speed with which carbon monoxide molecules orbit around such black holes, this new research opens the possibility of making these measurements in many ... read more


TIME AND SPACE
NGO ends Mozambique flood aid over graft: report

Fireworks truck blast blamed for China bridge collapse

26 dead as China bridge collapses: media

Australian summer lurches from fire to floods

TIME AND SPACE
Fleet Managers Able to Track Drivers' Hours with Vehicle Tracking Systems

Galileo's search and rescue system passes first space test

AFRL Selects Surrey Satellite US to Evaluate Small Satellite Approach to GPS

Lockheed Martin Awarded Contract to Sustain Ground Station for Global Positioning System

TIME AND SPACE
Professional training 'in the wild' overrides laboratory decision preferences

Monkeys move together like humans do

Bindi Irwin slams Hillary Clinton editors over essay

A relative from the Tianyuan Cave

TIME AND SPACE
S.Africa convicts great white shark hunter

Thai cop arrested with 20 elephant tusks

Sweden resumes wolf hunt despite controversy

African vultures at risk from poisoning

TIME AND SPACE
Pandemic Controversies: the global response to pandemic influenza must change

Study shows climate change could affect onset and severity of flu seasons

Chinese genes boost peril from flu: study

Cambodia reports two new bird flu deaths

TIME AND SPACE
Colonial flags fly as anger grows in Hong Kong

Mr Right for rent in China

China convicts Tibetan burning 'inciters' of murder

Activist Chen encourages media to probe China

TIME AND SPACE
Japan police arrest mobster in Fukushima clean-up

Mexico scrambles to stem violence near capital

11 kidnapped Sudanese freed in Darfur: media

Britain earmarks $3.56M for anti-piracy

TIME AND SPACE
China PMIs indicate recovery continues

Asia manufacturing eases in January

China house price rise accelerates in January

Japan hails upbeat data as turning point




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement