With the advent of the Webb Space Telescope, the problem has pushed up against theoretical limits. The matter falling into a black hole generates radiation, with faster feeding meaning more radiation. And that radiation can drive off nearby matter, choking off the black hole’s food supply. That sets a limit on how fast black holes can grow unless matter is somehow fed directly into them. The Webb was used to identify early supermassive black holes that needed to have been pushing against the limit for their entire existence.
This is a seriously cool article. An accretion disk tens of thousands of light-years across is fucking wild. That’s getting awfully close to our own SMBH at our galactic core, sag A* if LID was placed between us and our SMBH.
A fucking plasma of superheated matter from a black hole could be crisping our black hole and Earth simultaneously. Jesus.
I love how every time we get a better look at them black holes slap around our current understanding of things
I think this is one of the most fascinating things. However impressive it is that we can even observe this and know as much as we do - we still don’t really know shit about fuck.
Oh but when I feed at 40 times the theoretical limit my doctor calls me “unhealthy” and “you’re eating yourself to death”
ugh. double standards. Doctors in astrophysics are much more accepting than medical ones
The wording “unless matter is somehow fed directly into them”, along with the fact that this black hole grows 40x too fast, gives me cosmic horror vibes.
Who’s feeding it!?
sorry, made too much spaghetti yesterday and didn’t know where else to put it
Actually would make sense if this was a spinning black hole. If true humans need to tech up harder.
So did they name him after that muckbang asshole guy who lost all that weight and was a creepy psycho about it? And probably lying about it being “all part of the plan” lol
Shit, they found your mom!
