Anatomy of galaxies

2002/01/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astrofisika

The cores of most galaxies are black holes. In our case it is also so. Now, the researchers of the IAC of the Canaries have studied their influence on the aspect of galaxies.

The results indicate that the black hole mass in the center of the galaxy fixes the shape of the entire galaxy; the larger the black hole, the closer are the stars of the core galaxy. In addition, the correlation is very good.

Black holes located in the centre of galaxies have a minimum mass of one million times larger than the Sun, but their size is four times larger than the Sun. Because of this mass density, the gravitational field forming black holes is able to influence the entire galaxy. Taking into account the results of this research carried out in the IAC, from now on astronomers will be able to perceive the mass of the central black hole with the simple vision of a galaxy.