Tag: nature

A supermassive black hole (SMBH) is the largest type of black hole, on the order of hundreds of thousands to billions of solar masses (M?), and is found in the center of almost all massive galaxies. In the case of the Milky Way, the SMBH corresponds with the location of Sagittarius A*.

Supermassive black holes have properties that distinguish them from lower-mass classifications. First, the average density of a supermassive black hole (defined as the mass of the black hole divided by the volume within its Schwarzschild radius) can be less than the density of water in the case of some supermassive black holes. This is because the Schwarzschild radius is directly proportional to mass, while density is inversely proportional to the volume. Since the volume of a spherical object (such as the event horizon of a non-rotating black hole) is directly proportional to the cube of the radius, the minimum density of a black hole is inversely proportional to the square of the mass, and thus higher mass black holes have lower average density. In addition, the tidal forces in the vicinity of the event horizon are significantly weaker for massive black holes. As with density, the tidal force on a body at the event horizon is inversely proportional to the square of the mass: a person on the surface of the Earth and one at the event horizon of a 10 million M? black hole experience about the same tidal force between their head and feet. Unlike with stellar mass black holes, one would not experience significant tidal force until very deep into the black hole.

Strange interstellar phenomena such as cosmic alcohol clouds, planets orbiting pulsars and dark energy is discussed.

Richard Dawkins asks Neil deGrasse about what are his thoughts on the probability of life existing elsewhere in the universe. Neil is very positive about having life as the basic ingredients for having life are in abundance in the universe, as we are mostly made up of carbon.

Brief Background –

Ever since humans acknowledged the enormity of the universe, we have intuited that life must exist somewhere, either in our galaxy or some galaxy far, far away. If the­ universe contains billions of galaxies, and if each galaxy contains billions of stars, and if a fraction of those stars have Earth-like planets, then hundreds — maybe even thousands — of alien civilizations must exist across the cosmos. Right?

For a while, science contented itself with the logic alone. Then, in 1995, astronomers located the first planets outside our solar system. Since then, they’ve detected nearly 300 of these extra-solar planets. Although most are large, hot planets similar to Jupiter (which is why they’re easier to find), smaller, Earth-like planets are beginning to reveal themselves. In June 2008, European astronomers found three planets, all a little larger than Earth, orbiting a star 42 light-years away.

For most, it’s the deadly centerpiece of the film Star Wars. But in truth, real death stars are in the final stage of life before they explode into supernovae and, occasionally, the biggest blast in the universe–the gamma ray burst (GRB).

SpaceX have successfully launched their Falcon 9 Full Thrust rocket today in a rocket launch that occurred at January 14th 2017 at 17:54 UTC from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.