Blackholes and Quasars

Frame Dragging,is when a star system that contains a black hole spins.This is most prominant around large,fast spinnung objects.

A blackhole is probaly the densest state of matter.It's gravitational pull is so strong,light can't even escape.What causes a black hole in the first place?A star dies when it runs out of fuel to keep shining.Gravity causes the core to collapse, while the temperature rises.The core becomes hot enough for its nuclei to break down to helium and neutrons.Stars with eight solar masses or more may not stop at the white dwarf stage.Gravity collapses the remnant to increasing density and decreasing size.The gravitational mass becomes so strong light can't escape.

The center of this elliptical galaxy contains a massive black hole.The disk is probaly what remains of a smaller galaxy that collided with this one.This is a common way of creating a quasar.

When the remnant is about 2 miles it collapses,until it disappears.Thus a black hole is formed.Until 1974,scientist thought of black holes as the final stage of matter.However,Stephen Hawkind found that the intense gravitationnal field of a black hole allows particles to stream out into space. The black hole loses some of its mass until it explodes in an intense burst of gamma rays.The mass of a black hole depends on how long it evaporates.

Quasars can be seen across billions of light years,becayuse they give off a tremendous amount of energy.Many astronomers believe that a giant black hole is the quasars engine,fueled by great amounts of infalling gas,dust,and stars.The background pictures,show the quasars as bright star-like objects ith diffraction spikes.The pictures, in the center and right hand rows,associate quasars with colliding galaxies which provide plenty of materials to provide fuel for a black hole.

This page is written by Katina Fobbs in the astronomy class of BCC/Broward County on July 1998