Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Which Came First - The Black Hole or the Galaxy?


You know, if this question had been put to me before, i would have said the galaxy. I was under the impression that galaxies grew like the solar system where the material that made up the solar system grew together and slowly formed and compressed until Sol began fusing blowing the remaining material out to form the planets. that was until I read this article in the Daily Galaxy.

From the article:
  • A recent study suggests that super-massive black holes can trigger the formation of stars, thus 'building' their own host galaxies.
  • (this) could also explain why galaxies hosting larger black holes have more stars.
A team of astronomers came to this unusual conclusion by observing quasar HE0450-2958, the "naked quasar" or "homeless" quasar. It gained that designation by not appearing to have a host galaxy. Astronomers to this point thought that the quasar's galaxy was hidden behind large amounts of dust. But using a near infra-red observatory (dust glows brightly under near infra-red) they found no associated dust clouds. However a near by galaxy with dust clouds was making start at a staggering rate!

No comments: