December 2012 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: [Utah-astronomy] Utah-Astronomy Digest, Vol 118, Issue 1 re: super massive black hole
by John R. Peterson 02 Dec '12

02 Dec '12

It's important to realize that black holes don't just "suck" everything around them in. If the Sun were to suddenly be replaced by a black hole, the Earth would simply continue to orbit as it does now (granted, things wouldn't be very nice here). It's only when there's enough friction to slow things down that they spiral in. Or, tidal processes can be strong enough on a closely approaching satellite star to pull matter of, just as happens in a binary system where one is a white dwarf, neutron star, or black hole. There are some stars that come incredibly close the the 3-4 MILLION solar mass (!) black hole at the center of the Milky Way. These stars have been monitored using space-based microwave observatories and ground-based radio observatories for over 15 years (only longer wavelengths can penetrate through the dust and gas between us and Sag A* (That should have shown up as an asterisk after the capital A, and is read: "Sagittarius A-star" -- did the quotation marks show up?? you never know what's going to be translated in email text), and in the last few years adaptive optics on the World's great ground based 'scopes have added to the data. A good summary of this long project, including some great time laps animations can be found here: http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso0846/ The reason it's pretty clear that our supermassive black hole is not gobbling lots of stuff up the way it no doubt did earlier in the life of the galaxy is that we don't see much evidence of it the way we do in what are called "active galaxies" that often have these incredible jets of matter and radiation streaming out of them. A great example is M-87, the great Virgo galaxy. Once again, it wasn't until the advent of more advanced space-based as well as ground-based telescopes that the evidence began to pile up. John R. Peterson -----Original Message----- >Message: 1 >Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2012 00:06:17 -0700 >From: RON VANDERHULE <deepsky100(a)msn.com> >To: utah-astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> >Subject: [Utah-astronomy] super massive black hole >Message-ID: <BAY164-W24069E1C041CE7E12F4BE281420(a)phx.gbl> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" > > > I am not sure what I am missing about the unusual nature of NGC 1277 and its' massive black hole. Isn't the purpose of a black hole >to feed on its' host galaxy until the meal is finished? So the more a black hole consumes the bigger it gets and the smaller the host >galaxy gets. We see this in NGC 1277 and it will be our fate also in the future. Yes? >As long as I have your attention what percentage of time does the Universe spend reshuffling and merging of galaxies as compared to >existing in a somewhat finished state??? > >Ron > >------------------------------ >

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Totally bummed
by Joe Bauman 02 Dec '12

02 Dec '12

Hey Chuck, we missed you too! Let's hope for l & o. -- Joe ------------------------------ On Sun, Dec 2, 2012 10:24 AM MST Chuck Hards wrote: >Just this morning I realized that I had completely forgotten about the SLAS >Solstice party last night. My wife and I had planned to go, but after we >both had to work yesterday, it just slipped our minds. I was really upset >about missing the ATM gathering at Mat's and I guess that cloud just pushed >everything else out. > >I SO wish I had a "cookie-cutter" job with decent hours...manufacturing has >just taken all of my free time for going on ten years. I could find >another job easily enough, but would make about the half the pay I'm >getting now, and with the mountain of divorce-related debt I have, moving >into something less lucrative isn't an option for another decade or so, >unless I want to live out of a shopping cart. Virtually all of my >recreational eggs are in my retirement basket. > >I may as well just sell the basement full of astro stuff I've accumulated >over the last 44 years and find something else to be interested in. I pay >club dues but can't even make a monthly meeting. Seems like it's been >forever since I haven't had to get up at 4 AM. > >I hope everyone had a great time last night. Maybe I'll see you there next >year. >_______________________________________________ >Utah-Astronomy mailing list >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy > >Send messages to the list to >Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com > >The Utah-Astronomy mailing list is not affiliated with any astronomy club. > >To unsubscribe go to: >http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy >Then enter your email address in the space provided and click on "Unsubscribe or edit options".

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Totally bummed
by Chuck Hards 02 Dec '12

02 Dec '12

Just this morning I realized that I had completely forgotten about the SLAS Solstice party last night. My wife and I had planned to go, but after we both had to work yesterday, it just slipped our minds. I was really upset about missing the ATM gathering at Mat's and I guess that cloud just pushed everything else out. I SO wish I had a "cookie-cutter" job with decent hours...manufacturing has just taken all of my free time for going on ten years. I could find another job easily enough, but would make about the half the pay I'm getting now, and with the mountain of divorce-related debt I have, moving into something less lucrative isn't an option for another decade or so, unless I want to live out of a shopping cart. Virtually all of my recreational eggs are in my retirement basket. I may as well just sell the basement full of astro stuff I've accumulated over the last 44 years and find something else to be interested in. I pay club dues but can't even make a monthly meeting. Seems like it's been forever since I haven't had to get up at 4 AM. I hope everyone had a great time last night. Maybe I'll see you there next year.

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Next ATM session
by Hutchings, Mat 01 Dec '12

01 Dec '12

Hi, all ATM's; just a reminder that the next ATM session is on 12/1 (this Saturday) starting at 09:00. As usual, let me know if you need directions to my house. For any new subscribers to this list who are wondering what ATM means in this context, it is Amateur Telescope Maker. We do all kinds of telescope making including primary mirrors for Newtonian telescopes, overhauls of scopes, observing aids (dew heaters, etc.) and observing chairs. It's a great time for us telescope nuts to get together and help each other out. Future dates for these sessions are: 1/26/13 2/23/13 3/30/13 Hope to see you this Saturday! Mat This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. The information contained herein may include trade secrets, protected health or personal information, privileged or otherwise confidential information. Unauthorized review, forwarding, printing, copying, distributing, or using such information is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not an intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your system. Thank you for your cooperation

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super massive black hole
by RON VANDERHULE 01 Dec '12

01 Dec '12

I am not sure what I am missing about the unusual nature of NGC 1277 and its' massive black hole. Isn't the purpose of a black hole to feed on its' host galaxy until the meal is finished? So the more a black hole consumes the bigger it gets and the smaller the host galaxy gets. We see this in NGC 1277 and it will be our fate also in the future. Yes? As long as I have your attention what percentage of time does the Universe spend reshuffling and merging of galaxies as compared to existing in a somewhat finished state??? Ron

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Moon + Jupiter
by Dion Davidson 30 Nov '12

30 Nov '12

Here is one of the coolest photos I've seen of the Moon + Jupiter get-together this week: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104605541194704556978/posts/N6tiRHukcUk You have to click on the photo to see the Jovian moons in detail. Dion

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NASA announcements
by Daniel Holmes 30 Nov '12

30 Nov '12

After the kerfuffle with Curiosity, Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal nails it again. http://www.smbc-comics.com/ San -- Sent from my iPhone. Please pardon any mispelings or errors.

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Super Giant Black Hole
by Kelly Ricks 30 Nov '12

30 Nov '12

At the end of this article the author asks: "What would you see if you lived on a habitable planet in that far-away galaxy and could look toward the center? Probably nothing that makes sense to human eyes. Black holes have such powerful gravity that they distort the space around them." Coincidentally, my boyfriend Rob (who is on the physics faculty at Oberlin college, and whose research focus is black holes), just presented an image to the computational modeling class he teaches that relates to the above question. It simulates what the Earth would look like to an outside observer if it were 99.99% the density of a black hole. I wasn't able to get the image small enough to forward directly, but you can see it (along with my attempt at a fun explanation) on my blog here. http://kellyricks.blogspot.com/2012/11/if-earth-were-black-hole.html Enjoy! ~Kelly Message: 1 Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2012 13:13:35 -0800 (PST) From: Mark Shelton <astroshelton(a)yahoo.com> To: Utah Astronomy <utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com> Subject: [Utah-astronomy] super giant black hole Message-ID: <1354223615.5927.YahooMailNeo(a)web161801.mail.bf1.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 link to a story on the news http://news.yahoo.com/super-giant-black-hole-baffles-scientists-174556589--… ? Mark Shelton Indian Hills Middle School CTE Tech Ed. Teacher Salt Lake Astronomical Society Board Member (School and Special Star Parties?Coordinator)?

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