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"Reflections from Outbursts of Supermassive
Black Holes at the Centers of Galaxies"
Clusters of galaxies are the largest structures in the Universe that are held together by gravity. Because of their immense size and mass, galaxy clusters are extremely useful as tools to probe a variety of questions about the Universe as a whole as well as properties of the clusters themselves. While galaxy clusters are comprised of individual galaxies that is not their entire story. Clusters also are filled with colossal amounts of hot gas. This gas has a temperature as high as 100 million degrees and more mass than all of the stars in the galaxies in the cluster. Because this gas is so hot, the only way to observe it is through X-ray telescopes like the Chandra X-ray Observatory. One of the incredible insights seen with Chandra is the impact that outbursts from a supermassive black hole at the center of the central galaxy in some clusters has had on the gas in the cluster. In several dozen clusters we've now seen X-ray cavities, some with sizes larger than the entire Milky Way, where expanding radio lobes from the black hole have pushed the hot gas out of these regions. The energy in these outbursts is enormous, more than billions of supernovae. In a few clusters, we've also seen shocks in the gas that are produced by these outbursts. With these Chandra observations, we can measure how much energy has come out since the outburst began, how long the outburst lasted and how often these outbursts occur. This talk will present recent X-ray and radio observations that, in addition to being beautiful images, allow us to determine how much energy is in these outbursts and how the outbursts affect their host galaxy. |
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Black Holes Star show to follow
A showing of the new Jordan Planetarium feature program, "Black Holes" , will follow 20 minutes after the conclusion of Dr. Jones Forman's talk.
Admission is FREE for this special showing but seating is limited to the first 30 arrivals at the Planetarium in Wingate Hall. (Sorry for any disappointments.)
See the description on our play bill page. |
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