The hit song that proclaimed, "All we are is dust in the wind," may have some cosmic truth to it. New findings from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope suggest that space dust -- the same stuff that makes up living creatures and planets -- was manufactured in large quantities in the winds of black holes that populated our early universe.
The findings are a significant new clue in an unsolved mystery: where did all the dust in the young universe originate?
"We were surprised to find what appears to be freshly made dust entrained in the winds that blow away from supermassive black holes," said Ciska Markwick-Kemper of the University of Manchester, U.K. Markwick-Kemper is lead author of a new paper appearing in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal Letters. "This could explain where the dust came from that was needed to make the first generations of stars in the early universe."
How ironic! And I always thought of the black hole as a giant vacuum cleaner, sucking everything in. Now it's actually spewing out dust? Urgh!
[80% Steve, 20% Alfred] ------- Probability of Clear Skies = (Age of newest equipment in days) / [(Number of observers) * (Total Aperture of all telescopes present in mm)]
Tachyon wrote:How ironic! And I always thought of the black hole as a giant vacuum cleaner, sucking everything in. Now it's actually spewing out dust? Urgh!
I bet you never used a vacuum cleaner. After some time, it starts to spew out dust from the other end.
Tachyon wrote:How ironic! And I always thought of the black hole as a giant vacuum cleaner, sucking everything in. Now it's actually spewing out dust? Urgh!
I bet you never used a vacuum cleaner. After some time, it starts to spew out dust from the other end.
Dyson doesn't...
[80% Steve, 20% Alfred] ------- Probability of Clear Skies = (Age of newest equipment in days) / [(Number of observers) * (Total Aperture of all telescopes present in mm)]
