Black holes 'preceded galaxies' | |
A cosmic chicken-and-egg question may have been solved by astronomers who now say black holes came before galaxies. The findings were presented at a major astronomy meeting in California. Most if not all galaxies, including our own Milky Way, are believed to have massive black holes at their cores. It was unclear whether black holes came first, helping create galaxies by pulling matter towards them, or whether they arose in already formed galaxies. "It looks like the black holes came first," said Dr Chris Carilli, from the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, New Mexico, who took part in the study. "The evidence is piling up." The evidence was unveiled at the 213th American Astronomical Society meeting in Long Beach, California. Earlier studies of nearby galaxies had revealed an intriguing link between the masses of black holes and the central "bulges" of stars and gas in galaxies. Early Universe Generally, the mass of a black hole was observed to be about 1,000th that of the mass of the surrounding galactic bulge. This constant ratio indicated an "interactive relationship" between the black hole and the bulge, say the researchers. But it was not clear whether one grew before the other, or whether they grew together. In the latest study, researchers used radio telescopes to peer back to near the beginning of the Universe, thought to be some 13.7 billion years ago, when the first galaxies were forming. "We finally have been able to measure black-hole and bulge masses in several galaxies seen as they were in the first billion years after the Big Bang," said co-author Fabian Walter of the Max-Planck Institute for Radioastronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn, Germany. "The evidence suggests that the constant ratio seen [in nearby galaxies] may not hold in the early Universe." He added: "The implication is that the black holes started growing first." The astronomers say the next challenge is to figure out how the black hole and the bulge affect each others' growth. Dr Carilli said powerful new radio telescopes now under construction would help to unravel the mystery. These include the Expanded Very Large Array (EVLA) in New Mexico and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile |
Derniers sujets
Black holes 'preceded galaxies'
Schattenjäger- Webmaster
- Nombre de messages : 43770
- Message n°1
Hier à 18:27 par Satanas
» TIKTOK et la Vallée de l'Étrange
Sam 18 Mai - 21:51 par Schattenjäger
» La France en 2024
Jeu 16 Mai - 7:00 par Mulder26
» 30 ANS PLUS TARD il RÉAPPARAIT : L' HISTOIRE inexplicable
Mer 15 Mai - 9:22 par Schattenjäger
» DANS LES SOUS-SOLS LES PLUS HANTÉS DU MONDE (le grand JD)
Mer 15 Mai - 9:08 par Schattenjäger
» Ils voient des ovnis partout (courrier international)
Dim 12 Mai - 12:09 par Mulder26
» L’Enlèvement de Yoshihiro Fujiwara: Un Voyage Extraordinaire ou une Illusion Nocturne?
Sam 11 Mai - 15:11 par Achim
» Une force inconnue perturberait notre Système solaire, causée par... la Planète Neuf ?
Dim 5 Mai - 11:12 par Schattenjäger
» Les "X-Files" secrets au FBI
Sam 4 Mai - 14:06 par Schattenjäger
» 5 THÉORIES SUR RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2
Sam 4 Mai - 13:56 par Schattenjäger
» Nuages de glace stratosphériques polaires
Sam 4 Mai - 10:45 par Schattenjäger
» Naachtun - La cité maya oubliée | ARTE
Ven 3 Mai - 22:46 par Schattenjäger
» L'énigme archéologique autour des dodécaèdres romains est-elle sur le point d'être résolue ?
Ven 3 Mai - 16:33 par anoy
» Il y aurait bien une planète géante à découvrir aux confins du Système solaire
Ven 3 Mai - 9:36 par Schattenjäger
» Et si la vie était pourpre sur d'autres planètes ?
Ven 3 Mai - 9:32 par Schattenjäger