Jan 13 1997
From The Space Library
An international team of astronomers announced the discovery of three black holes in three nondescript galaxies, suggesting that nearly all galaxies may in fact have massive black holes. Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the researchers took a census of 27 galaxies to find a series of black holes massive enough to consume millions of Sun-like stars. The findings, which the scientists presented in full at the 189th meeting of the American Astronomical Society, provided insight into the origin and evolution of galaxies, as well as clarifying the role of quasars in the galaxy. Douglas O. Richstone of the University of Michigan, who led the research team, stated that two of the black holes had "weighed in" at 50 million and 100 million solar masses, respectively. Scientists remained divided on why black holes exist so abundantly in space. One theory suggested was that, at the center of most or all galaxies, supermassive black holes exist, where gases ignite to the hottest temperatures known, sending nearby stars spiraling in new directions. Ralph Narayan of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics called the black holes "the ultimate victory of gravity.
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