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https://nerdist.com/article/fastest-growing-black-hole-34-billion-suns/
The fastest-growing black hole ever observed has been given an approximate weight, and it tips the scale at 34 billion times the mass of the Sun. The researchers who’ve estimated its weight also say it continues to grow, devouring a Sun’s worth of matter per day. On top of claiming those mondo stats, the gorging monster may also help to unlock some key mysteries of the early universe.
The “ultramassive black hole” (that’s literally a class of black hole), dubbed J2157-3602, was discovered in 2018 and given an initial weight of 20 billion solar masses—a solar mass is a unit of mass equivalent to the mass of the Sun. Since then, researchers have gone back and taken new measurements using the Very Large Telescope array in Chile. (Pictured immediately below.)
J2157 is “about 8,000 times bigger than the black hole in the centre of the Milky Way,” astronomer Christopher Onken of Australian National University told Science Alert. He added that “If the Milky Way’s black hole wanted to grow that fat, it would have to swallow two thirds of all the stars in our galaxy.”
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Onken and others described these new measurements in a paper recently published in the journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. In the paper, which comes via ZME Science, the researchers say that the ultramassive black hole is, on top of being gargantuan, also the most luminous quasar in the known universe. A quasar—pictured at top—is essentially a black hole that’s actively pulling in gas and dust from a surrounding accretion disk. In other words, a “feeding” black hole.
Although J2157 is huge beyond imagination, it isn’t the most massive black hole we’ve ever observed. That title belongs to an ultramassive black hole powering the quasar known as TON 618, which is about 10.4 billion light-years away from Earth. That indescribably large light-swallowing beast weighs in at 66 billion solar masses. Below, for visual reference, is a comparison of all the differently sized black holes.
Like TON 618, J2157 is also astoundingly far from Earth. According to Science Alert, J2157 is some billions of light-years away. However, the measurement isn’t as exact as that for TON 618. J2157 can still help to illuminate the very early universe, however, when it was younger than 1 billion years old. Especially when it comes to gleaning information about the galaxy in which it resides.
“Is this galaxy one of the behemoths of the early Universe, or did the black hole just swallow up an extraordinary amount of its surroundings?” Onken asked rhetorically. Depending on the answer to that question, cosmological models explaining how the universe has grown over time could be altered. Right now, astronomers are still just trying to figure out how black holes can grow to be as massive as J2157 so early on in the universe’s existence.
What do you think about J2157 and its ability to swallow a Sun’s worth of mass every single day? Do you have any ideas as to how the ultramassive hole will change our understanding of the early universe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Feature image: European Southern Observatory
The post Fastest-Growing Black Hole as Big as 34 Billion Suns appeared first on Nerdist.
The fastest-growing black hole ever observed has been given an approximate weight, and it tips the scale at 34 billion times the mass of the Sun. The researchers who’ve estimated its weight also say it continues to grow, devouring a Sun’s worth of matter per day. On top of claiming those mondo stats, the gorging monster may also help to unlock some key mysteries of the early universe.
The “ultramassive black hole” (that’s literally a class of black hole), dubbed J2157-3602, was discovered in 2018 and given an initial weight of 20 billion solar masses—a solar mass is a unit of mass equivalent to the mass of the Sun. Since then, researchers have gone back and taken new measurements using the Very Large Telescope array in Chile. (Pictured immediately below.)
J2157 is “about 8,000 times bigger than the black hole in the centre of the Milky Way,” astronomer Christopher Onken of Australian National University told Science Alert. He added that “If the Milky Way’s black hole wanted to grow that fat, it would have to swallow two thirds of all the stars in our galaxy.”
Onken and others described these new measurements in a paper recently published in the journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. In the paper, which comes via ZME Science, the researchers say that the ultramassive black hole is, on top of being gargantuan, also the most luminous quasar in the known universe. A quasar—pictured at top—is essentially a black hole that’s actively pulling in gas and dust from a surrounding accretion disk. In other words, a “feeding” black hole.
Although J2157 is huge beyond imagination, it isn’t the most massive black hole we’ve ever observed. That title belongs to an ultramassive black hole powering the quasar known as TON 618, which is about 10.4 billion light-years away from Earth. That indescribably large light-swallowing beast weighs in at 66 billion solar masses. Below, for visual reference, is a comparison of all the differently sized black holes.
Like TON 618, J2157 is also astoundingly far from Earth. According to Science Alert, J2157 is some billions of light-years away. However, the measurement isn’t as exact as that for TON 618. J2157 can still help to illuminate the very early universe, however, when it was younger than 1 billion years old. Especially when it comes to gleaning information about the galaxy in which it resides.
“Is this galaxy one of the behemoths of the early Universe, or did the black hole just swallow up an extraordinary amount of its surroundings?” Onken asked rhetorically. Depending on the answer to that question, cosmological models explaining how the universe has grown over time could be altered. Right now, astronomers are still just trying to figure out how black holes can grow to be as massive as J2157 so early on in the universe’s existence.
What do you think about J2157 and its ability to swallow a Sun’s worth of mass every single day? Do you have any ideas as to how the ultramassive hole will change our understanding of the early universe? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
Feature image: European Southern Observatory
The post Fastest-Growing Black Hole as Big as 34 Billion Suns appeared first on Nerdist.
Let's just jump in the "blerdic" pool, shall we? It's time for a new Grindhouse show, engineered under the auspices of Afronerd Radio and broadcast thanks to BTalk 100. Join your consistent AFROnerdist hosts as they unravel the following issues: more apparent fallout in the wake of George Floyd's death and protests-a number of white voice over actors have proclaimed that they will refrain from voicing characters of color (.i.e. The Cleveland Show/Family Guy, Big Mouth, The Simpsons and Central Park); and then there's the delayed removal of episodes of varied programs that had problematic blackface depictions (in the 21st century!!!); actor, Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool 1 & 2), playfully crashes a virtual X-men cast reunion; thoughts about a now almost 7 month video of a young reportedly pregnant black woman getting tased by a Miami Gardens police officer; and even more thoughts on another suspicious police misconduct case, but this one resulted in the death of Elijah McClain of Colorado; addressing some topics we missed per last MWIR show; President Trump retweeted a video of a Trump supporter exclaiming "white power!" and miraculously he later states that he didn't hear the remark (riiiiiight); journalist, Nikole Hannah-Jones writes a NY Times piece on the case for African-Americans reparations; and perhaps and extension of the aforementioned black animation voice redux, our thoughts concerning Confederate (or morally questionable white heroes) statue removals and Woodrow Wilson's name being dumped from Princeton, etc; superstar athlete, Lebron James successfully garners 100M investment toward building a media platform; Dburt has been engrossed in new anime for the last couple of days..ie. Megalo Box and Gleipnir; iconic Marvel comic artist, Joe Sinnot passes at the age of 93; and what better way to avoid COVID-19 on a production set than having an A.I. actor; Call in LIVE at 646-915-9620.
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Earlier this week, we wrote about DJ Akademiks and his vile, ridiculous, and unwarranted comments about Chrissy Teigen.
In case you missed it, here are just a portion of what he said.
“It’s bewildering to me. His b*tch be talking mad sh*t online. What’s…I dislike this b*tch so much, I can’t even lie to you.
One time she sneak-dissed me so f*ck that hoe. Straight up and John Legend could hear that. Don’tRe have your b*tch dissing me because I don’t give two f*cks about none of y’all niggas.”
Well, it turns out that his words came back to bite him in the butt.
Complex has decided to suspend the Everyday Struggle co-host.
And yesterday, Akademiks hopped online to offer an apology.
“I definitely wanna start off by kind of like apologizing for some of the stuff that’s been going on outside the show. In particular, while I was defending myself against rapper A, rapper B, I think I definitely went over the line when I was disrespecting women. It just wasn’t right. After thinking about it, even seeing the clip, it’s nasty. Truth be told, given everything that’s going on not only the world, given what’s going on with the current climate at Complex and also former employees and current employees , also working with Nadeska, someone I have a lot of love for, I just felt it was completely out of pocket and something that I had to admit. Yo, you can’t be a hypocrite saying you’re going to be an ally and stand for riding for causes that matter and then you don’t do these other things or say these other things.
I want to officially offer an apology. I’m extending my apology to Nadeska and anyone who may have been offended.”
You can watch his apology in the video below.
Interestingly enough, he never mentioned Teigen’s name but aight.
Akademiks said he spoke to Complex leadership and he will be absent for two episodes. In addition to this punishment from his employer, his Twitch account has been deactivated.
Source: #RelationshipGoals / iOne Digital
It was a steamy hot summer in New York City. I was spending a lot of my free time with my friends. This was a few years back when I was hustling and working on weekends too, which didn’t leave much free time to enjoy.
I was interested in dating, but not really taking it seriously. I was mostly doing hoodrat things with my friends. And any and every time one of them talked about meeting someone on this or that app, I would get curious, hop on, check the messages, get bored, and never get back on.
This time around, in the midst of being bored and ignoring messages in my inbox, a young woman messaged me. She reminded me of Freddie from A Different World, except more refined. Her pictures were fascinating, one after the next. From her bedroom, to far away deserts, this woman was clearly into details, culture, and fashion, but not in the sense of labels, in the sense of curating a look based on placing special pieces together. You could tell everything she owned had a story and everything she loved had a memory attached to it.
Her message was simple, effective, and made me smile. “You look good enough to hug and your hug looks like it feels like home.”
Isn’t it a shame, if a man messaged me that, I would swear he was just lathering me up in game without substance. But from a woman, this breathed its way into my chest and sprayed goosebumps up and down both arms.
I tried to be just as clever as she was so I replied, “My hug is the thing homes are made of.” I hated it. I deleted it.
“You can find out for yourself,” I wrote, replacing the deleted message.
She got back to me almost immediately, “I’d love that. I’m Joey.”
“I’m Danielle,” I offered back.
“So when can I collect my home?” She asked.
“Ah, I see what you did there because my hugs are like home. Cute.”
“Yes, you are and yes I am. So let’s be cute together,” I loved how forward she was without making me feel icky. I was fully receptive to her fearless flirting. “I see you like thrift shopping. Me too. Would you want to meet up at this shop in Brooklyn?” She dropped a link to a shop I’d been wanting to go to but hadn’t found the time.
Joey and I made plans to meet up at that thrift shop and then grab a bite. I was nervous. It had been a while since I’d been out with or dated a woman. I never treated the situation any differently than I would if I was out with a man. The situation would just present itself differently. Women listen, lean in, hear you, see you. The connection is just different —I wouldn’t dare say better or worse.
I got to the shop a bit delayed because that’s just who I am. I tried to cool myself off before I walked in. Because I had been rushing to get there, and it was hot, I was sweating, hard. And then, I was worried about my sweating, which made me sweat more. I paced slow, trying to convince myself to calm down.
The door opened and Joey peeked out and called my name, “Hey crazy. You giving yourself a pep talk?” She laughed.
I laughed. She walked over to me. “I was sweating and freaking out about sweating and I wanted to dry off before I came in,” I couldn’t believe I was admitting the embarrassing truth to her.
“Aww, poor sweaty baby,” Joey was short, but she grabbed my sweaty hand, leaned in and up toward my mouth, and kissed me. It was sensual, soft, but aggressive, and perfect honestly. I most certainly kissed her back and by the time I started to get really get into it, she pulled away. “So, now we’ve gotten that part out of the way.” She smiled and pulled a thick paper towel out of the bag she was carrying.
“So you just have these nice ass napkins on the go?” I smiled, took it, and patted my brow. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, I’m a sweaty bitch too,” she said. We laughed.
We shopped around the store and she tried on everything from dresses to high waisted pants that looked tailored to her short, curvy frame. She tucked away into the dressing room to get dressed so that we could leave. “Dani, can you help me?” She popped her head out.
“Yeah I got you.” When I walked in, she grabbed me by the wrist and tugged me into her. We kissed again. Sis had me in a daze.
When we parted lips, she said, “I’ve been wanting to do that again since I did it the first time.” She smiled a coy smile.
Dinner wasn’t great, but our conversation was. With our food sitting cold in front of us, we closed the restaurant down. We ended up bouncing around to a few bars in the area and decided to keep the date going longer.
“You hungry?” She asked, interlocking our fingers.
“I very much am.” I dabbed my forehead with her luxurious napkin. This thing lasted me our entire date, in which I pretty much sweated the entire time. Usually, I rush dates to be over because I’m so self-conscious about my sweat. I can’t even believe I’m admitting that now, but with Joey it didn’t matter. I’d never felt that free before (at that particular time in my life I was in my 20s) while I was dating someone fresh and new.
Joey and I had a marathon date that lasted almost two days. We parted ways later that next afternoon. We spent most of our time getting to know each other’s scars, stories, traumas, triumphs, dreams, all of it. It felt like a cathartic experience for us both. The farthest we had gone in that time was kissing and some touching, but mostly kissing.
We made plans to link up again. I was going to some sort of thrift store Olympics– you get a bag for a certain price and fill that however you can for a flat price — and Joey’s eyes lit up when I told her about it. I was going with some friends but figured it was fine to bring her, even though if she was a dude, I doubt I would invite him, whether or not he was interested in thrifting.
“Oh, I’m def coming to that. Hit me,” She kissed me one more time and was out.
Stay tuned next week for more.