New scientific discoveries inspire awe in outer space

To Talk of many Things

The recent discovery of large clusters of black holes orbiting the Milky Way galaxy is one that should provoke substantial awe about the magnificent forces underlying our universe. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory, NASA’s elliptically orbiting spacecraft, designed to collect data on x-ray astronomy, released findings on Jan. 10 about the interstellar phenomena. What the Chandra personnel describe can give us hints about how physical reality around us operates.

The NASA press release says that a "swarm of 10,000 or more black holes may be orbiting the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole." These newly found black holes are smaller in size compared to the supermassive one located at the center of the galaxy, named Sagittarius A*, and all are the remains of exploded massive stars. According to the release, the "stellar-mass black holes, along with neutron stars, appear to have migrated into the Galactic Center over the course of several billion years." This new data may also assist astronomers in understanding the growth of Sagittarius A*.

Most fascinating about the existence of black holes is that they are one of the most dramatic implications of modern physics. Based on Einstein’s theories of special and general relativity, they represent the physical malleability and connectedness of universal forces once thought to be continuous and separate. We now know that forces of time and space are woven together and are open to physical distortion.

Einstein’s special relativity teaches that lengths of physical space can be shorter or longer in different frames of reference to different observers. The lengths may be contracted from the viewpoint of the observer "moving faster" because time is dilated in this frame of reference. How is that possible? It is possible because the speed of light and all other laws of physics are the same in all frames of reference in uniform motion. The principle was reconciled with Newtonian laws of mechanics through the theory of general relativity, which proposes that gravitational force is equivalent to a corresponding acceleration in "motion" of an observer in that frame of reference. Therefore, gravity is the product of a distortion in time and space.

A black hole phenomenon is implied by general relativity when a massive concentration of matter is contracted so densely upon itself within a critical radius that its gravitational force becomes so strong that not even light can escape it. Hence, the matter’s gravity is "black," pulling in all colors in the visible light spectrum. In nature, only a star so massive that its core would collapse upon exhausting its nuclear fuel could provide the concentrated matter for a black hole. The enormous energy release after the collapse of the star’s mass would cause this.

The phenomenon of a black hole is particularly intriguing because it makes one wonder exactly how the theories of modern physics may affect the natural world. The Jan. 7 edition of the journal Science contains a research review by Drs. Ramesh Narayan and Eliot Quataert on how the gravity of black holes may be able to pull inflows of magnetized gaseous matter towards its center in angular disk orbits. The mystery surrounding processes like these remind one of how truly fantastic the universe is.

We should not only marvel at the natural phenomena themselves, but also at the human ingenuity that makes these discoveries possible. It is an exciting, inspiring tableau that displays the capabilities of the human mind seeking to penetrate reality’s most arcane mysteries. The discoveries represent human beings’ capacity to learn and to know, as well as the inherent curiosity that makes humanity stand out in the rest of creation.

Jonathan Kelly is a senior political science major.