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| Black Hole Violence |
Posted: December 18, 2007 |
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| A Black Hole Bully
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| In a "truly extraordinary act of violence," a black hole at the center of a galaxy 1.4 billion light years from earth is shooting out a jet of radiation and particles that's slamming into another nearby galaxy, NASA astronomers said Monday. Such jets are common features of black holes -- areas of space with gravitational fields so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape -- but this is the first time astronomers have seen one hit another galaxy.
"It's like a ... black hole bully punching the nose of a passing galaxy" said astronomer Neil Degrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, who wasn't involved in the research.
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| Photo Credit: Illustration: NASA/CXC/M. Weiss
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