Submitted via IRC for Bytram
The first-ever detection of highly energetic radiation from a microquasar has astrophysicists scrambling for new theories to explain the extreme particle acceleration. A microquasar is a black hole that gobbles up debris from a nearby companion star and blasts out powerful jets of material.
"What's amazing about this discovery is that all current particle acceleration theories have difficulties explaining the observations," said Hui Li, a theorist in Los Alamos National Laboratory's Theoretical Division who served on the team. "This surely calls for new ideas on particle acceleration in microquasars and black hole systems in general."
The team's observations, described in the Oct. 4 issue of the journal Nature, strongly suggest that particle collisions at the ends of the microquasar's jets produced the powerful gamma rays. Scientists think that studying messages from this microquasar, dubbed SS 433, may offer a glimpse into more extreme events happening at the centers of distant galaxies.
A. U. Abeysekara, et. al. Very-high-energy particle acceleration powered by the jets of the microquasar SS 433. Nature, 2018; 562 (7725): 82 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0565-5
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @01:31PM (5 children)
And, no. I'm not talking about the fact that you can't observe them directly.
There are competing theories on what a black hole is; it's not some well understood phenomenon. And, predictions about material around where a black hole is supposed to be have failed in the past (e.g., stars or clouds of gas didn't get eaten up, or they moved in ways unexpected).
Maybe gravity isn't the only or even the major factor in the cosmos. There are much stronger forces at play, such as those of electromagnetism; until recently it has been thought that space is largely devoid of charged particles, but now it is recognized that plasma pervades the interstellar spaces, and there are indications that it also pervades the intergalactic spaces.
When you allow for this, then you no longer need mysterious, overwhelmingly humongous, non-nullifiable "dark matter" to explain away the holes in your theory.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday October 10 2018, @08:11PM (4 children)
No there aren't.
Got a citation for this claim?
Objects orbit black holes the same way they orbit (or crash into) anything else.
Oh, what a surprise, an Electric Universe nut.
No, you just introduce a few dozen more holes that you blithely ignore because being contrarian makes you feel special (and because you don't know enough to know how wrong you are).
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @08:30PM (2 children)
Black Holes Behaving Badly [youtu.be]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:56PM (1 child)
The top comment there is great:
That pretty much sums up the appeal of EU theory. And I do like it and find it good to watch before bed just like that poster.
Also, they predicted Philae would bounce because the surface would be too hard for the "ice screws" and "ice harpoon" and were proven right. To me that makes them worth paying attention to. I mean, 99% of these predictions we hear about have no real life consequences but that one did. The engineers would have designed the craft to the correct specs if they hadn't been dismissed as crackpots.
(Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Friday October 12 2018, @08:17PM
That top comment is more telling than you realise. People don't latch on to these nutjob theories because they make more sense, or make better predictions - they simply like to feel like they're in the smart minority. It's nothing more than contrarianism substituting for actual intelligence.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:20PM
Explain that electric shock I got that time I was in the Universe?
Checkmate Atheists!!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @01:31PM (5 children)
Is it possible dark matter is responsible for the additional acceleration?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @02:16PM (2 children)
Is it possible that God is fucking with scientists?
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:17PM (1 child)
About as likely as the Electric Universe being a real theory.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @10:01PM
"Gee. Maybe it'll work if we make the Universe 99% dark matter instead of 98%."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @04:43PM
This paper about the same quasar was just published Oct 2:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/1411.7413 [arxiv.org]
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @07:34PM
Is it possible that God is fucking with scientists?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @09:29PM (1 child)
Someone set up the telescope incorrectly and they're really just looking at a macroquasar doing its thing the way macroquasars are wont to do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 10 2018, @10:01PM
Or someone saw something through the telescope that proved Pluto was a planet. Then this what they came up with as the coverup.