Posts Tagged ‘galactic bulge’
Central Black Holes or their Galaxies, Which Came First
Scientists from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced earlier this week that they have evidence which leads them to believe that black holes may have led to the formation of the galaxies within which they reside. You can learn more about this by reading the ESO announcement here. Or read the scientific paper available online here. After all, as Dr. David Elbaz says “the ‘chicken and egg’ question of whether a galaxy or its black hole comes first is one of the most debated subjects in astrophysics today.”
Our Galactic Bulge: The Latest Views
The central region of our galaxy is known as the galactic bulge. That’s where you’ll find lots of stars in an astronomically small region but observing that region can be very difficult for astronomers as there is a lot of cosmic dust and other assorted material which tends to block our view and analysis. French and Canadian astronomers released today a summary of what we know about our galactic bulge. You can read the details online at http://xxx.lanl.gov/PS_cache/arxiv/pdf/0812/0812.3743v1.pdf By studying the stars in the most central region of our galaxy, scientists hope to not only learn the type and concentration of stars in the galactic bulge, but they should be better armed to understand the massive black hole within the center of our galaxy, and the formation of galaxies similar to our Milky Way.