Black Hole Spins at Nearly the Speed of Light

[StarMountainKid]

For the first time, astronomers have managed to measure the rate of spin of a supermassive black hole—and it's been clocked at 84 percent of the speed of light, or the maximum allowed by the law of physics

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/03/130301-black-hole-speed-of-light-einstein-science-astronomy-space/

[pallidin]

That is seriously wild. A good job on the post.

[The Silver Thong]

We need a pic of a white off shoot.

[manz]

doesn't that mean the enitre mass is time travelling to some extent

[brlesq1]

I'd like to see the results of their studies. Bound to be seriously wild.

[bassai26]

For the first time, astronomers have managed to measure the rate of spin of a supermassive black hole—and it's been clocked at 84 percent of the speed of light, or the maximum allowed by the law of physics

http://news.national...stronomy-space/

is 84% enough to prevent light from escaping which is 16% faster?

[Waspie_Dwarf]

is 84% enough to prevent light from escaping which is 16% faster?

Light won't escape from inside the event horizon whatever speed the black hole spins.

[Leonardo]

First, this is quite awesome, but...

Second - I think the title (and article) might be slightly misleading. The article reads to me that the scientists measured the rate of spin of the accretion disk - not the actual black hole. That's assuming the article isn't simply a bit ambiguous in what it states, for the sake of brevity?

Edited August 23, 2013 by Leonardo

[Waspie_Dwarf]

The article reads to me that the scientists measured the rate of spin of the accretion disk - not the actual black hole. That's assuming the article isn't simply a bit ambiguous in what it states, for the sake of brevity?

No, the title is correct. They used measurements of the accretion disk to determine the rate of spin of the black hole.

Astronomers detected x-ray particle remnants of stars circling in a pancake-shaped accretion disk surrounding the black hole, and used this data to help determine its rate of spin.

You wouldn't refer to the accretion disk's motion as "rate of spin".

[Leonardo]

Cheers, Waspie.

I just found this sentence...

"Astronomers detected x-ray particle remnants of stars circling in a pancake-shaped accretion disk surrounding the black hole, and used this data to help determine its rate of spin."

...a bit ambiguous as it wasn't clear the "it" being referred to in the last 4 words was the black hole or the accretion disk.

And while a dissertation or article in actual scientific literature might not refer to the motion of the accretion disk around the black hole as 'spin', an article written for a general audience may do so.

Edited August 23, 2013 by Leonardo

[Drayno]

Wow!

This is really fascinating..

84% of the speed of light is enough to warrant a Doc Brown expression..

"GREAT SCOTT!"

[spacecowboy342]

is 84% enough to prevent light from escaping which is 16% faster?

The spin doesn't prevent light from escaping. Gravity does that