Black hole bonanza possible as immense gas cloud passes

[hue]

Source: BBC News Science

A vast and hidden field of small black holes predicted to be near the centre of our galaxy could be revealed as a giant gas cloud passes by.

The G2 cloud is as large as our Solar System, and bound for a "supermassive" black hole at the Milky Way's core.

On the way, it should encounter many black holes just tens of km across.

A report in Physical Review Letters suggests they will spin and heat the gas, which will emit a spray of X-ray light that telescopes could see.

The cloud of gas - three times larger than Pluto's orbit but with a total mass just three times that of the Earth - was first spotted on its course toward the galaxy's centre in 2011.

Researchers have been gearing up for the cloud's approach to the galaxy's enormous central black hole, with its closest approach in September.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22694229

[dembotoz]

1. while fundies still profess that earth is the only living planet in creation.....

[Archae]

2. The humor (albeit crude humor) possible from this story...

[Demeter]

6. Black holes pass gases

It's a natural fact.

[kentauros]

3. It's too bad they can't write their piece in past-tense,

seeing as how this event took place thousands of years ago

[telclaven]

4. The Grandeur of the Universe Never Ceases to Amaze

n/t

[snooper2]

5. And god did it in a vacuum with the snap of his/her/it's fingers

[telclaven]

7. Brane on Brane impact

The latest hypothesis I think I heard was that the big bang was the result of two branes intersecting on a point, thus the massive energy transfer that created. well, everything.

High end astrophysics hurts my brain.

[sofa king]

8. Neat animations here:

It amuses me to think that for all those stars out there, they are still not dense enough to obscure the view of the galactic center. With the right instruments you can see right past them all to the very center. I never even thought of such a thing when I first began to learn about astronomy, and for much of my life it wasn't even certain that there was a supermassive black hole there.

Now we have a fifteen-year record of the orbits of its closest neighbors. The future is so damned cool!

[donquijoterocket]

9. great animations and video

But I wish you'd credited the sound track. I like that music a lot. Thanks.

[burrowowl]

10. WOW!