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Cardiac Cosmology

Morgan Maher
Ocean-of-Stars_large.jpg

While some black holes eject energy in rare and violent outbursts, new data from NASA’s Chandra X-Ray Observatory reveal that other black holes are capable of more consistent charges. A black hole in the center of Virgo Elliptical Galaxy M84, 55 million light-years from Earth is one of them.

Mateusz Ruszkowski, an astronomer at the University of Michigan remarks that the black hole "looks like a beating heart."

Alexis Finoguenov, of UMBC and the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany, compares the central black hole to a heart muscle.

“Just like our hearts periodically pump our circulatory systems to keep us alive, black holes give galaxies a vital warm component. They are a careful creation of nature, allowing a galaxy to maintain a fragile equilibrium,” Finoguenov said.

Watch this video to catch a glimpse of the rhythm of this black hole.

A paper on the research called “In-depth Chandra study of the AGN feedback in Virgo Elliptical Galaxy M84” has been published in The Astrophysical Journal.

 

Image: Ocean-of-Stars by Jack Heart on Flickr, remixed by Morgan Maher, used via Creative Commons licenses.

Comments

This may turn out to be quite spectacular...

Submitted by vivifidal on Mon, 12/08/2008 - 21:03.

Some astronomer's have predicted such fluctuation but have never had the opportunity to see it in action. Ok, can't help myself from adding a little fluff to the commentary since I seem to have a theme going...

 

<3+:-)=:-)

Hmmm

Submitted by RogerscottQ on Mon, 12/15/2008 - 05:17.

Finoguenov's comment as quoted suggests he's a 'vitalist' and a 'fantastic' astronomer that will be gladly adopted by the creationists.

It's a bold statement in any context.

Seems likely to be completely ignored on no other grounds than it reeks of inobjectivity or some preformed philosophy. If he were a philosopher, that would be one thing; as a scientist, it is an utterly ugly or clumbsy assertion. It isn't the business of observers to draw conclusions or to compel people to some view. Good art maybe. Bad science.

Thanks for pointing this out.