Astrophysicists probe theory of black-hole accretion
Wednesday, June 22, 2016 - 09:31
in Astronomy & Space
Utilizing the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), one of the most powerful telescopes in the world, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) astrophysicist Dr. Tracy Clarke and an international team of researchers have peered into the feeding habits of a supermassive black hole and witnessed the first evidence of a new diet. The black hole, whose mass is nearly 300 million times that of our sun, is on the verge of gulping down massive clumps of cold gas which each contain as much material as a million suns.