Black Holes Preceded Galaxies, Discovery Suggests, page 1

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Topic started on 7-1-2009 @ 06:42 AM by jwstarry

Black Holes Preceded Galaxies, Discovery Suggests

www.space.com

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Astronomers may have solved a cosmic chicken-and-the-egg problem: Which came first — galaxies or the supermassive black holes in their cores?

For several years now, researchers have known that galaxies and black holes must have co-evolved, with budding galaxies feeding material to a growing black hole while the immense gravity of the black hole generated in its vicinity tremendous radiation that in turn powered star formation. But the scientists hadn't pegged the starting point

(visit the link for the full news article)

reply posted on 7-1-2009 @ 06:42 AM by jwstarry

This is very interseting to me, I always assumed that three was no way the Black Hole came first just because they are so destructive.

So if the Black Holes came first I guess the next question I have is what caused the Black Holes? Also if the Black Hole came first can you imagine the amount of energy and mass the Black Hole has eaten and how large galaxies could be?

www.space.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply posted on 7-1-2009 @ 12:25 PM by The Quiet Earth

reply to post by jwstarry

Thanks for posting this for the community. This announcement raises a question: if Black holes require the gravitational collapse of massive stars, and if massive stars are only (I'm not sure if this is the case, so please correct me if I'm wrong) found/formed in galaxies, then how can a Black hole exist prior to the formation of galaxies?

I remember listening to a BBC Radio 4 program that discussed the same issue. The cosmologist wasn’t sure which came first – the Black hole or the galaxies. And he pointed out the conundrum that I mention above. That’s the only reason that I’m aware of it, after all. I’ll see if I can find it.

Thanks

Edit - Yes, here it is. It was an astronomer named John Gribbin, rather than a cosmologist, who elucidated the mystery of the formation of the first Black holes.

Black Hole Problem

Cheers

[edit on 7/1/09 by The Quiet Earth]

[edit on 7/1/09 by The Quiet Earth]

reply posted on 7-1-2009 @ 12:57 PM by welivefortheson

stars would have existed prior to galaxies,galaxies are but organised systems of stars,the supermassiveblack hole being the cog of this organisation.

the first stars would have been hyperstars whos lives were very short and thus any black holes would have formed within 10 million years or so of the first stars creation.
the black holes of these hyperstars would have collided and merged to eventually form the supermassive black holes at the centre of all galaxies.

reply posted on 7-1-2009 @ 02:21 PM by converge

I found this to be very curious and interesting.

I started a thread about this yesterday but perhaps I posted it in the wrong forum.

reply posted on 7-1-2009 @ 09:46 PM by yizzel