SmokinGoods
173701
4258
47
They pointed a IR telescope at the center of the milky way for 15 years, you can see stars, some 15x the size of our sun orbiting around nothing.
Aug 18, 2017 6:24 PM
SmokinGoods
173701
4258
47
They pointed a IR telescope at the center of the milky way for 15 years, you can see stars, some 15x the size of our sun orbiting around nothing.
RenegadeZX
It's the axle on which everything turns.
MayorDeweyMayorDewey
space is amazing
xizar
wow. That's a *fast* orbit.
Rainhardt
Maybe the aliens painted it black so we couldn't see it at night time
KillerCaitie
I honestly expected this to be a dickbutt.
MetalSkeletal
Black hole sun. Won't you come, and wash away the pain?
Idsertian
I got you fam. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq364f4RGqE
Piornet
This is very cool. And it should be noted that there's almost no debate for this being the case.
ThatGuyJayar
False, the stars are tethered to a stationary pole and God is playing a hell of a game of tether ball
ThatOneJayKid
But wait, if those are stars and they're orbiting a black hole, wouldn't their light be sucked in? Or is that already accounted for?
OmgWhyAmILikeThis
MakeAmericaGrateAgain
I didn't realize there was speculation about this. I was under the impression this is just how galaxies work...
cyberkite
Weird thing is that black hole doesn't have enough grav. pull to hold galaxy together. Its magic/ dark matter
GapingHeadwound
Very decidedly not nothing.
dunkyclone
pitbullboxershorts
What do you think happened to any planets that were orbiting that one star that did the fast u turn?
Phischstaebchen
that's fucking fast, no? Btw. didn't they build a radiotelescope (network?) now to actually "see" it?
techdawg2013
Yes they did. The data is in Antarctica at the moment. Waiting for winter to end down there to get it out to start analysis.
Phischstaebchen
huh? You talk about actual data or telescope?
techdawg2013
There's a large radio telescope at the south pole that participated in the observation. No idea why the data is there, but it is
daruiner
Pretty sure there's a black hole in the center of Uranus too. I'll be here all week, folks.
InCaseOfEmergencyRun
You’d smell pretty bad then
Sidewinds3000
That is so awesome.
CruelKnight
I can't be the only one wishing one of those stars would just get sucked in and vanish
nickisbeast666
Maybe all the stars in that cluster already have but we won't see it for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Kirbylink04
It wouldn't vanish, though. It would just...stop.
CruelKnight
It would vanish blackhole would destroy it so it will no longer produce light. It's light wont be able to seen by the telescope
Fooby
If there wasn't one, this would still happen as those stars would orbit the center of gravity. We think that because of mass measurements.
techdawg2013
Doesn't really work like that when the object is orbiting inside the other masses.
Fooby
What is the object that is "orbiting inside the other masses"? What other masses?
techdawg2013
The object here are the stars orbiting the black hole. The other masses are the rest if the milky way.
techdawg2013
Without a black hole at the center, the stars would just drift straight through the region rather then wihipping around.
CondescendingCunt
Meh. It's probably just @OP's mum coated in vantablack.
1Whatthefudge1
Thers a black hole in me bolix, i dont expect you to understand, a little thing called science.
Treybetrey
jaysushowaya
The science of Uranus
dolphindreamsandsatan
Why does this not have more upvotes?? :-)
acunninglinguist
I was talking to a person who tried to refute all black hole theories with some electric universe stuff. Guy basically said he's smarter >>
RanOutofWit
Yeah, the electric universe nuts are almost as bad as flat-earthers. Just don't argue with them, they see no reason.
Idsertian
Uh, wtf is "electric universe"?
RanOutofWit
It would take way to long to explain here. Google it, but remember that it is all patently absurd.
acunninglinguist
communities just keep perpetuating the lie because it's profitable somehow. Some serious tinfoil hat shit.
cryogenian
Yes, what is electric universe? Do you have a link?
acunninglinguist
That link is textbook tinfoil hat bullshit.
acunninglinguist
than Einstein, and that Einstein was completely wrong about gravity, black holes, theory of relativity, etc and that the scientific/math >>
SelfawareFetus
Don't show me these things. It keeps me the fuck up at night.
TooManyPixels
It has a name too if that helps....our black hole is named Sagittarius A*, also called Sag A Star
SelfawareFetus
It helps a bit but mostly because the name sounds like sagging tits.
Rifneno
Yeah? Sol has 333K times the mass of Earth. That supermassive black hole (actual term) has 4 million times the mass of Sol and is 4.5
Rifneno
billion miles wide. The US is 0.025 light seconds from Europe. That SMBH is 6.5 light hours in diameter.
SelfawareFetus
You kinda get off on this, don't you?
Rifneno
SelfawareFetus
Hah. You are a'okay in my book.
Idsertian
That's a staggering thought. An object so big it takes light over a quarter of a day to get from one side to the other. Light-bending 1/2
Idsertian
gravity notwithstanding. 2/2
Rifneno
The largest known black hole, an ULTRAmassive one, is 40 BILLION solar masses, or 10,000 times the mass of this supermassive one.
Idsertian
Jesus tittyfucking Christ. Damn, space, you scary!
Hale95
I'd heard of light years but it never occurred to me that there we light days as well
AnHour
Earth is 8 light minutes from the surface of the sun.
Lightningsphincter
And light minutes and light seconds too !
Daeyelle
A light(any measure of time) is literally the distance it takes light to travel. The moon is about 1.8 light seconds away.
cryogenian
And OP's mom is eight light hours wide.
GreatAlfredini
The moon is approx 2 light-seconds from us.
HughGWrection
MartyBlank
So in some weird way, are being slowly sucked to the center of the galaxy to.be destroyed?
zonkedout1
Entropy is the only road back to another big bang
copingcabana
Orbiting =/= getting sucked in
gernjer
Tell me more about this sucking...
barnwolf
It's surprisingly hard to get sucked into a black hole. Have to be heading almost directly at it, far easier to end up in orbit around it.
barnwolf
Or get flung away.
shikolti
Considering the red tint of the universe we're probably drifting away.
Notmypants
That doesn't apply inside a galaxy. Gravity is much more powerful than whatever drives expansion.
[deleted]
[deleted]
[deleted]
[deleted]
thecolonels
I.e. the information is lost, as if it went into a hole.
StupidFingAsshole
We're not nearly close enough for that to happen
StupidFingAsshole
It's actually nearly impossible to fall into a black hole
Totallynotfakingit
To be reborn. Haven't you seen interstellar?
magundi
Our solar system is actually expanding outward as is our galaxy. We are spinning away from the center w/ no force to pull us back in.
MyPeskyClownBoner
Even if that were how it worked, our sun would probably die and kill us all before that happened
Moonattack100
Black holes don't suck things in.
thegreatninjaman
dont worry, you will be dead long before that happens! :D
Shoelebubba
No. Black holes still obey the law of gravity. If you replaced it with an equal mass object, everything would revolve around THAT the same
Shoelebubba
Thing is there are no objects with equal mass because they'd be black holes too. They don't "suck" just have so much freaking gravity
oldelidog
Don't worry. It's the same no matter which galaxy you live in.
MartyBlank
I've accepted my inner Rick and embraced nihilism, anyway.
Quisaxaderak
No, the gravitational effect is the same as if there were a star there the same mass, though that star would be much bigger in volume 1/2
Quisaxaderak
Though our orbit may be decaying, one rotation around the center takes 250 million years. It would take like 10^30 years for us to fall in
rustygates
We can also get orbital rebounding. When it gets super close it can begin to slowly move back away for a bit.
Rifneno
Amazing to think, the last time we were at this point in the galactic rotation, dinosaurs were taking their first steps on Earth.
Quisaxaderak
Though there is debate over whether it is decaying at all
spectheintro
Wouldn't the black hole decay by then?
Quisaxaderak
Not if the entire galaxy inside earth orbit spent that 10^30 years falling into it, but if it weren't feeding yes. 10^30 is so big as 1/2
Quisaxaderak
It's nearly meaningless. Like 1 nonillion or something like that. I believe that is even far past the heat death of the universe. 2/3
someon
In the same rate we're being sucked into the sun...
Daeyelle
Be careful how you say that, some would take that as confirmation we're getting sucked into the sun
someon
I figured since Earth was dangling around sun for 4,5 billion years that wouldn't be an assumption... but I was wrong...
RelativeVelocity
We're getting sucked into the sun? Oh fuck, I'd better tell Facebook!!
hegeszto
There you go global warming. We are slowly getting closer to the Sun!
someon
zbeta
Hahaha
Piornet
Think of it this way: everything has gravity and can pull everything else with lower mass in. There are lots of things in our solar system,
Piornet
But not everything gets pulled into the sun. It's all a matter of proximity and trajectory.
DefinitelyHungry
Gravity doesn't work one way. Both thing with gravity are pulling on each other
Daeyelle
Everything that has mass attracts everything else in the universe. That pull however reduces with distance, so things on the other side of
Daeyelle
The universe would feel the pull of earth but at such a small fraction that I probably wouldn't have enough space or time in the universe to
Daeyelle
Convey that.
Bystandr
All the objects are falling towards the center of the gravity well created by the hole, but given the amount of time elapsed , everything
Bystandr
on a direct course has already fallen in and acreated. If a star were to fall in even slightly off a direct course today, it would also
Bystandr
'pile up' in an acretion disk around the edge of the event horizon and activate the polar jets, which we havent seen much action from
Bystandr
in all the time weve been capable of watching. The short answer is : what remains isnt on a direct collision course.
HonestCommentFarmer
A more precise way of putting it is that a galaxy is nothing more than they accretion disk of a very large black hole.
Notmypants
Not really because we're not orbiting the black hole, we're orbiting the center of the galaxy like everything else.
Ulthirm
Which is almost inside the blackhole (if there is one) only offset due to the huge amount of gravity formed by literally every other
Ulthirm
object in the galaxy.
Notmypants
The black hole is there because it's the center of the galaxy, not the other way around. As it interacts gravitationally with everything
Jarjarthejedi
Black holes don't infinitely suck stuff in, that's a common misconception. We're orbiting the center of the Milky Way, like all stars.
ltsDizzyD
Not exactly the orbit is either decaying or being released. Nothing is in a perfect geosycronous orbit.
iputthefiresout
Geosynchronous orbit means it orbits at the same speed the body rotates. Meaning it's always above the same point
Jarjarthejedi
1. Geosynchronous is entirely unrelated to what you're talking about. What you mean is perfect stable orbit. 2. That is correct
OwlXiozee
Quit downvoting the guy cause he referenced the wrong term, we know what he was talking about jeez.
ltsDizzyD
Thanks but it's no use. I gave up a long time ago. If I didn't know any better I'd say this site is filled with doctors and physicist.
ltsDizzyD
But instead it's filled with a bunch of tweens, grammar/spelling Nazis, and people who like that stupid dog language.
Jarjarthejedi
No idea. I upvoted him and specifically noted he was correct in my response.
Flyndaran
His entire point was wrong though, not just his word choice.
OwlXiozee
My understanding is that even if the angular momentum of a satellite in orbit is perfect, gravitational radiation and other factors cause(1)
Hawkzord
His point that all orbits being in flux is correct actually. No orbit is stable to infinity.
OwlXiozee
So you're saying that according to modern theory that some celestial bodies are in completely perfect, (non-decaying or expanding) orbits.
OwlXiozee
Decay over time regardless, no matter how minuscule. I would personally love to know if I'm wrong though. (2)
MyBigMouth
It's a guy who thinks he's God, I've seen the documentary "Star Trek 5: The Final Frontier"
DickMercenary
No no.. it's the home of the Collector Base and is only reachable through the Omega-4 Relay.
BarretXIII
Life is not a dream
PascalCasedUserName
True story
JACKYLandHIDE
Awesome post
fractalsphere
Didn't they capture one getting destroyed?
techdawg2013
There was a gas cloud that was supposed to put on a show a year or too ago. The event was underwhelming for reasons I don't recall.
Tornadotaco
It was full of hot air
CorneliusG
shouldn't you be transporting people instead of browsing Imgur? It's a surprise you were able to get Scotty out of that loop.
StrangerNum1
No the guy watching out for this look away and was just home after he came back
TehWolfs
I may have just had a srtkoe while reading this.
drunkenbuffoon
keyserv
MartyBlank
What the fuck did that mean?
ragnarsghost
Agent95217
Why don't you go rest for a while champ.
LeroyShabazAli
dashers
I remember this, a star being devoured.
anonymous03
i think that was a simulation
Articate
Our super massive black hole is actually saturated. It doesn't suck in more mass.
Bystandr
Im gonna go with ... WRONG
RelativeVelocity
How in the hell could it be saturated? My mind can't quite conceive the concept.
baldewok
You mean the gravity wave experiment? It was more like two black holes crashing into each other and merging.
zooperism
That is badass
MeisterKleister
https://imgur.com/Aa4nJlZ
baldewok
Made the whole universe ring like a bell.
RelativeVelocity
Jesus, if sound existed in space, that would've been horrific
NicholasRishel
The next best thing: a gravitational wave represented as a sound wave - https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/video/ligo20160211v2
Gazwal
I believe this is what you were thinking of (which is a computer simulation) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s3f20CxwpM
rustygates
That's a simulation of a tidal disruption event, which is a star getting torn apart by a black hole.
canImakealongnameandplayrunescape
fractalsphere
That's the graphic i remember. Thought it was a real event focused on the center of the galaxy.
FrankGrappa
Most astronomers believe there is a black hole in the center of nearly every galaxy.
mabbo
And this is why. Because we have good evidence of it. It's not just random beliefs or faith, it's based on facts.
climbng69101
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermassive_black_hole
GuardsmanMiku
yeh, we think there is a SM black hole in our galaxy because there seems to be one in every galaxy. The gif is just showing a candidate 4 it
Treybetrey
rustygates
That's supermassive black holes (millions of solar masses). We also think there are billions of smaller black holes (~10 solar masses) 1/2
[deleted]
[deleted]
rustygates
inside each galaxy (the prediction is around 100 million for the Milky Way). 2/2 (fixed a typo - thanks @lilrent)
CptRobotNinja
My theory that my dick is the center of the universe is being well recieved in certain academic circles
DannyDoggo
Recently, they believe in Multi-Universes with billions of more galaxies, and each was created by its' own Big Bang. Don't know if true.
tardis63
Not exactly. Multiverse theory is misunderstood by the public, thanks to some poor sensationalized science journalism
DannyDoggo
Any sauce on that? Love this kind of stuff.
tardis63
Haven't seen that video, but he gave a talk at my university and I expect it should be the same. Anyway, multiverse gets confused with (1/2)
tardis63
(2/2) the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, which isn't very widely accepted as all that good.
tardis63
Andrei Linde is one of the original multiverse theorists. If you've got time, his talks are good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9E1zMGvbQw
DannyDoggo
Thanks...
GUVMENTCHEEZE63
Choosy moms choose jif
shozabings
The 'nearly' intrigues me. Care to elaborate?
lurker314
There's always the odd chance that somewhere a collision occurred & the black hole at the center went one way & the galaxy went the other.
rexnerdorum
This is correct. Source: my PhD in Quasar Astrophysics.
lurker314
As a mathematician, this confirmation continues to make my day. :D
ElbowdeepinElmo
Could be a star. A gigantic, very dense one, for sure. Not that I know enough to make that an assumption based on reason...
TemporaryUzername
which may end up being a black hole at some point, wouldn't it?
letterzee
Ancient assonaut theorists believe aliens placed a black hole in the earth 's core in ancient times.
DickPicEnthusiast
So... Morons, then.
RanOutofWit
I... what... how... That makes no sense! I am going to have to google this absurdity.
Rifneno
Every spiral galaxy. Probably not irregular ones. Also: supermassive and ultramassive black holes, not the regular kind.
techdawg2013
Ellipticals too, since they're formed from colliding spirals.
LusciousLucius
Some of those have them too. They think only small ones with little activity don't.Lots of irregulars have simply undergone trauma recently.
hammersquirrel
Recently in astronomical timeframes...
LusciousLucius
Yup.
ElbowdeepinElmo
Well, it would make sense. Millions or billions of planets and suns can't orbit around nothing. There has to be something in the center.
Imalwaysready
Not at all. Bodies will orbit a shared barycenter of the masses which can exist in empty space b/w them. Nothing needs to actually be there.
PoeKneeTa
I'd like to agree but in all honesty "making sense" is a completely different ballpark in the macro level.
HappyJello
Like yo mama
GuardsmanMiku
A black hole generally doesn't make up most of the mass of a galaxy. All the satrs and stuff just kinda orbit around each other
Steppdeckenwolf
Galaxies don't orbit around black holes. The mass even of supermassive black holes is way to small to have that effect on galaxies.
Schizophorensic
Nougat
jonestown
It's turtles
techdawg2013
Not necessarily. The discovery of supermassive black holes was a bit of a surprise.
techdawg2013
They account for only a small fraction of the total galactic mass. They could disappear and the galaxy wouldn't notice
Orpheus
It's OPs mom
APictureofLokiEveryday
She is indeed super massive.
WelcomeToTheShatterdome
Giant toilet flushing. We are just waiting for our turn at the bottom.
DownvotesAreFun
Darn Energy is causing the universe to expand, so no.
NoFudge
You're wrong. Yes, the universe is expanding, but not our galaxy. It's the distance to other galaxies that are increasing.
ElbowdeepinElmo
I don't think I'll see the end though.
DomeGuy
The VERY weird thing is that stars don't move as if they're free bodies orbiting a point mass. Galaxies almost seem rigid as they spin.
1nfinitezer0
Gravity is like magnets: magic :P
iliketoanswerwithreactions
DomeGuy
That's the single best explanation for fundamental forces anyone has ever come up with.
ArchieWizard
For a brief period after the discovery of planetary orbiting, but before it was understood, some people thought that there were angels
Automatvapen
https://media.giphy.com/media/OAU8Hh8vHP19m/giphy.gif
twozerooz
That is completely false. For example the arms of our galaxies are never the same collection of stars. Each star moves at diff rates, and
twozerooz
due to some quirky physics just tend to group there before orbiting out of the arm
DomeGuy
Those "Quirky physics" are one of the tbe three biggest questions in science.
DomeGuy
It's not false, it's just a very simplified explanation for the observed effect that demands "dark matter" exist.
twozerooz
No. We know dark matter exists because stars in a galaxy orbit faster than they should be. No idea who told you they dont orbit, or that
Wolfmanwolf
EXPLAIN
DomeGuy
Dark matter. The observed rotation of stars in galaxies is SLOWER than it should be, as if there was way more mass than we see.
twozerooz
Faster, not slower
mattsnypes
Planets are all revolving at different rates. Mar's year is shorter than Jupiter's year which is shorter than Neptune.
mattsnypes
I think that he thinks that stars don't do the same thing in a galaxy.
twozerooz
He is incorrect. In fact galaxies may look like they rotate as a rigid group, but they dont. For example, the arms of our galaxy are not
twozerooz
always made up of the same stars. Individual stars orbit independently, but happen to slightly slow down when they enter an arm,
MrDeadsr
So the universe doesn't revolve around me?
Leithoa
Hubble's (the man not the telescope) data says it does. Every other galaxy is also at the center but why think like that?
DigitalDevourer1
"So the universe doesn't revolve around me?" - the millennial generation
Cereaza
Universe doesn't seem to revolve around anything. Just keeps expanding and expanding.
ElbowdeepinElmo
Any universe you create does.
GuardsmanMiku
unless your name Sagittarius A*
realscrumpysteve
No, but you're still a black hole that sucks the life out of every thing.
HurgaDurgen
@BlackHole this guy is trying to steal your spot!
ltsDizzyD
No it revolves around the earth, so wait yeah it does revolve around you.
FlowVector
It doesn't revolve around you. But in terms of inflation, you are the center of it. Or any other point you choose.
BubblesSayingDecent
Just yo momma
CausticCake
you so fat, the aliens made billions of copies and put them at the center of each galaxy to hold them together
ALargeAgglomerationOfAtomsSuperficiallyResemblingAUser
well not billions, it was like 3 tops
TotallySaneScientist
You're so fat, aliens cut off a small portion of your mass to use for the gravity glue of trillions of galaxies.
PUNNYguy65
It's yo Mama's
Airra
How do we know that @MrDeadsr isn't yo' mama?
morelikeconsham
Technically, not necessarily. All bodies orbit the center of mass of the system. No rule says that the center of mass has to be occupied.
hungitalianohwaitthisisntgrindr
there is rule called "there has to be mass there for orbit to even happen." a lot of mass. i'm gonna side with the astrophysicists here.
TheMrPendragon
This precisely. Enough mass *can* coagulate to form a black hole, but that itself is only a side effect of the high density of matter.
Chievestevenbouigon
On a galaxy scale the "center of mass" doesn't necessarily need to be one body if I'm understanding you correctly?
DickMangoes
Like a poly star system. No actual object at center of gravity.
findlesticks
I have a physics degree and was looking for this comment
apollo1983
See, e.g., Pluto and Charon.
RelativeVelocity
Im almost certain they're binary due to having almost the same mass, is that what you are saying?
apollo1983
Their barycenter is located outside the mass of any celestial body.
ImKimJongUnAndEverythingIsFine
I'm stupid and this is confusing but I'm gonna ask...if there's mass at the center then wouldn't that mean something was there?
morelikeconsham
Center of mass does not mean a mass at the center. If you take two equal masses and place them some distance apart, the center of mass is1/2
morelikeconsham
The point halfway between them. If one of the two were larger, the center of mass would be a point between, but closer to the larger mass2/3
WinstonChurchmountain
I think it's a bit like a human body. Made of a bunch of smaller parts that are relatively extremely close to each other, forming a unit.
WinstonChurchmountain
But I don't know. I'm a Psych major. I like brains and stuff.
MedoMedic
Take a donut, the centre of the mass is in the middle of the donut, you eat the centre of the mass, i wiil eat the rest...
youcanpooptoo
The black hole diet
morelikeconsham
Disclaimer: I am a chemist, not an astrophysicist.
HonestCommentFarmer
That would imply a relatively perfect distribution of mass throughout the galaxy. So that the gravitational pull...
HonestCommentFarmer
from all points of the galaxy would be strong enough and equal enough so that net attraction is to the center. Very unlikely.
JayEnfield
Shouldn't chemists know a buttload about orbits?
morelikeconsham
We take standard physics classes where we learn the mechanics of orbits, harmonic oscillators, and the like, but atomic and molecular
Doomface4000
Orbits and orbitals aren't really the same thing.
scnottaken
Only molecular orbitals.