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Hubble sees possible runaway black hole creating a trail of stars

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Re: Hubble sees possible runaway black hole creating a trail of stars

#61

Post by ahonhn »

andrewstuart wrote: post #20

If you lived on a planet going around one of those stars it sure would be hard to make sense of the universe. "Oh I have it! In addition to all the incomprehensible things in the universe, we happen to live in a star system that is extremely, extremely rare and exeptional, unlike the rest of the universe!"

Makes me think of Krikkit in HHGTTG (from whence the view of the rest of the universe was cut off by a dust cloud. When its inhabitants finally did get to see it their immediate reaction was "It'll have to go")

Re: Hubble sees possible runaway black hole creating a trail of stars

#62

Post by vl »

Maursault wrote: post #34

> Gas in front of it gets shocked because of this supersonic, very high-velocity impact of the black hole moving through the gas. What's the speed of sound in intergalactic space, anyway?

It’s interesting that they used “supersonic” since phenomenon of sound emerges when there is enough molecules to collide with each other to transmit sound waves, which is not the case in the outer space.

But most probable speed of hydrogen molecules at 2.7K is surprisingly low - 150m/s. This speed can be used as “sound” speed approximation in the intergalactic space.

Re: Hubble sees possible runaway black hole creating a trail of stars

#63

Post by hinkley »

chasil wrote: post #41
Maursault wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but the mitochondria and plastids of eukaryotes took a very long time to emerge. Not an expert, but mitochondria didn't " e merge." Mitochondria co-evolved as bacteria, merged and became organelles through complex protein-import machinery and insertion into inner membranes of protein carriers for extracting energy for the host cell.

There were no eukaryotes... and then there were. This was the ignition of complex, multicellular biology. What else could explain it? I will admit that I thought they were closer to the Cambrian Explosion. This is much farther away than I thought. "Eukaryotes emerged approximately 2.2 billion years ago, during the Proterozoic eon, likely as flagellated phagotrophs." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eukaryote

fungi, farming before they were even fungi.

Re: Hubble sees possible runaway black hole creating a trail of stars

#64

Post by [deleted] »

andrewstuart wrote: post #20

If you lived on a planet going around one of those stars it sure would be hard to make sense of the universe. "Oh I have it! In addition to all the incomprehensible things in the universe, we happen to live in a star system that is extremely, extremely rare and exeptional, unlike the rest of the universe!"

[deleted]

Re: Hubble sees possible runaway black hole creating a trail of stars

#65

Post by fooker »

mach1ne wrote: post #52
Helmut10001 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an analogy to the Three Body Problem from Liu Cixin!

I’ve heard that book(series?) pop up quite a lot recently. Is it worth a read?

If you are have already read a bunch o sci-fi books, yes.

Otherwise it'll be like drinking from a firehose.

Re: Hubble sees possible runaway black hole creating a trail of stars

#66

Post by legohead »

andrewstuart wrote: post #20

If you lived on a planet going around one of those stars it sure would be hard to make sense of the universe. "Oh I have it! In addition to all the incomprehensible things in the universe, we happen to live in a star system that is extremely, extremely rare and exeptional, unlike the rest of the universe!"

If you like such ideas I have a couple good books for you. Not exactly related to this phenomenon but about space...logistics? With regard ET threats especially.

[1] The Three-Body Problem (trilogy)

[2] A Fire Upon the Deep

If you don't want to read the books at least check out the idea of the "Zones of Thought" that is the interesting concept in the second book.

Re: Hubble sees possible runaway black hole creating a trail of stars

#67

Post by Helmut10001 »

mach1ne wrote: post #52
Helmut10001 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an analogy to the Three Body Problem from Liu Cixin!

I’ve heard that book(series?) pop up quite a lot recently. Is it worth a read?

I really liked the first book, towards the second and third it got a little bit slow and repetitive. Not anywhere on par with e.g. Hyperion Cantos, but otherwise very good read.

Re: Hubble sees possible runaway black hole creating a trail of stars

#68

Post by Larrikin »

riffraff wrote: post #60
mach1ne wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve heard that book(series?) pop up quite a lot recently. Is it worth a read?

I had a hard time getting through book 1, the other two in the trilogy are easier to read, but they're certainly entertaining and original. It is, somehow, very bleak and pessimistic compared to your average (western?) sci-fi.

I've had good success with the audiobook + ebook combo in general. I'll listen to an audiobook while cooking, showering, etc and read it physically on a tablet or my phone when I want.

I started reading the first book before I started using this method, and abandoned the series a couple times but saw it coming up so often in sci-fi recommendations I kept wanting to get through it

I found the first half of book one elicited no interest in reading in my down time, but was just barely interesting enough to not quit listening.

By the second half of book one and the entire rest of the series (plus the author approved fan fiction fourth book) I completely gave up on the audiobook because the story was so good that I wanted to read it as quickly as possible. I actually switched to reading on my phone in the shower over listening.

It starts off slow but gets good and stays extremely good. One of my favorite series.

Re: Hubble sees possible runaway black hole creating a trail of stars

#69

Post by mock-possum »

ahonhn wrote: post #61
andrewstuart wrote: post #20

If you lived on a planet going around one of those stars it sure would be hard to make sense of the universe. "Oh I have it! In addition to all the incomprehensible things in the universe, we happen to live in a star system that is extremely, extremely rare and exeptional, unlike the rest of the universe!"

Makes me think of Krikkit in HHGTTG (from whence the view of the rest of the universe was cut off by a dust cloud. When its inhabitants finally did get to see it their immediate reaction was "It'll have to go")

For a VERY different take on this concept, do yourself a huge favour and read “Nightfall” by Isaac Asimov. Just thinking about it sends shivers up my spine.
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