Radio Telescopes Reveal Unseen Galactic Cannibalism
Monday, June 23, 2008 - 11:28
in Astronomy & Space
Using radio telescopes, astronomers have solved a mystery of how the gigantic black holes at the cores of active galaxies known as Seyfert galaxies get their "food." While visible-light images showed little evidence that these galaxies had any interaction with their neighbors, the radio-telescope images revealed that the galaxies are snacking on their neighbors, and the "meal" ultimately reaches the black hole.