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blinding big ball of light
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TriggerHappy
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at the replies so far!
TriggerHappy
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I'm going to hazard a guess that the density of stars grows greater towards the centre of a galaxy and that gives the impression of a galaxy containing a single, huge light source. That's just my guess though.
Islander
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The Sun?
Although the canon 580ex would be more likely in this case.I think this is probably correct.
Yeah but! If there really is a supetmassive black hole at the centre? then how come we can still see the light?
Then maybe the answer is that there isn't a supermassive black hole at the centre.
After posting first I found Brian cox's Wonder of the Universe in four parts on you tube. Glad to see that the bbc still know how to make epic entertainment. Quality research, writing and presentation, from Brian. Stunning effects, superb locations and use of environment to explain in easier terms the complexity 0f the universe. Brilliant!
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Not quite.
You're seeing the light from as long ago as the ligh source is distant in light years. The Andromeda galaxy's light is around 2.5 million years old, for example.
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I think this is probably correct.
Then maybe the answer is that there isn't a supermassive black hole at the centre.
It is correct
It's currently thought that all spiral galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their centre, some are active (i.e. accreting matter and emitting radiation), some are not. It's also thought that they may switch between active and inactive periodically. The enormous radio brightness of quasars is thought to be due to the synchrotron radiation emitted from the 'polar' regions of active supermassive black holes with the ultra active blazars being quasars that we see directly on the path of the synchrotron 'jet'.
There are probably super-massive black holes at the centre of every large galaxy, however just because there's a black hole there doesn't mean you can't see the light from all the stars that orbit that super-massive black hole and has already been said, the closer you get to the centre of any galaxy, the denser the population of stars..............so that's the great ball of light you see at the centre.
While black holes are so dense and therefore have such a strong graviational field that light cannot escape from them, there is a point where the gravitational field becomes weak enough for light to escape -the event horizon. Those stars are orbiting the super-massive black home way beyond that event horizon. Remember our galaxy is a vast place and our own solar system sits about halfway out from the centre taking about 250 milion years to orbit that centre.
Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_holes
While black holes are so dense and therefore have such a strong graviational field that light cannot escape from them, there is a point where the gravitational field becomes weak enough for light to escape -the event horizon. Those stars are orbiting the super-massive black home way beyond that event horizon. Remember our galaxy is a vast place and our own solar system sits about halfway out from the centre taking about 250 milion years to orbit that centre.
Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_holes