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The Epoch Times wrote:The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has directly observed a luminous disc of matter being sucked into a supermassive black hole at the heart of a remote galaxy.

Such quasar accretion disks are found orbiting huge black holes, sending out intense radiation as they reach high temperatures.

A team of astronomers studied the disc's size and colors to determine its temperature variation using a technique called gravitational lensing to achieve precision equivalent to observing individual sand grains on the moon's surface.

“A quasar accretion disc has a typical size of a few light-days, or around 100 billion kilometers [62 billion miles] across, but they lie billions of light-years away," said lead researcher Jose Muñoz in a press release.

"This means their apparent size when viewed from Earth is so small that we will probably never have a telescope powerful enough to see their structure directly."

A disc's temperature increases closer to the black hole, sending out bluer colors as the matter gets hotter.

The researchers discovered that the disc spans 4 to 11 light-days or 100 to 300 billion kilometers [62 to 186 billion miles]. Despite the range in values, this measurement is very accurate considering the object is so distant.

Previously, the inner structure of quasars has been extrapolated based on theory. These direct observations were made with an innovative gravitational lensing method.

The team used the gravitational effects of stars in an intermediate galaxy to magnify light emitted by different regions of the quasar, rather like a scanning microscope.

“This result is very relevant because it implies we are now able to obtain observational data on the structure of these systems, rather than relying on theory alone,” Muñoz said.

“Quasars’ physical properties are not yet well understood," he added. "This new ability to obtain observational measurements is therefore opening a new window to help understand the nature of these objects.”

The findings were published online in the Astrophysical Journal on Nov. 4.

knell wrote:title is misleading, they only observed the accretion disc around the black hole

ketamine wrote:

knell wrote:title is misleading, they only observed the accretion disc around the black hole

From what I've observed Knell, you can't wait to discredit, disproove and take the opposite view of any statement or viewpoint ever made. No matter what the subject matter. Anyone can post anything, and you'll pop in with an opposing picture or counter-argument. I wondered about this for a while, but now I'm just going to come right out and ask, what has happened in your life that has led you to want to crush the twinkle in the eyes of everyone around you, including your own parents?

This isn't a personal attack BTW. An observation of behavior.

Dub_freak wrote:

ketamine wrote:

knell wrote:title is misleading, they only observed the accretion disc around the black hole

From what I've observed Knell, you can't wait to discredit, disproove and take the opposite view of any statement or viewpoint ever made. No matter what the subject matter. Anyone can post anything, and you'll pop in with an opposing picture or counter-argument. I wondered about this for a while, but now I'm just going to come right out and ask, what has happened in your life that has led you to want to crush the twinkle in the eyes of everyone around you, including your own parents?

This isn't a personal attack BTW. An observation of behavior.

Im pretty sure its a joke because its not possible to see a black hole due to light being unable to escape it.

ketamine wrote: Yeah I know that, my observation of Knell still stands.

Shum wrote:awkward bomb defused.

knell wrote:

ketamine wrote: Yeah I know that, my observation of Knell still stands.

replied via PM so the thread can stay on topic