It's hard being a black hole. For one thing, no one can actually see you and also you
demolish everything within reach, and sometimes you even get kicked out of your own galaxy.
And in a study published this week in the Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics,
an international group announced that they'd found a supermassive black hole that's been thrown
out of its galaxy with no hope of getting back. The team was observing a galaxy 8 billion light-years away called
3C-186, using the Hubble space telescope, when they noticed something strange. Normally you would see a burst of radiation
called a quasar in the middle of one of these galaxies, which tells us
there's a black hole there, but instead they found the quasar, and therefore the black hole,
35 million light-years from the center of the galaxy. And it's still moving away the black hole is traveling away from the Galaxy at
7.5 million kilometers per hour that's like if you were going from Earth to mars at that speed it would take about a day
astronomers have found evidence of a few other runaway black holes before
But this is the farthest we've ever seen a supermassive black hole from its parent Galaxy
Researchers think that one or two billion years ago two galaxies with their own supermassive black holes
Probably came together to form 3C 186 the galaxies merged the two black holes started spinning around each other and in the process
They shot out gravitational waves those distortions in the fabric of the universe that happen when massive objects like these black holes
Accelerate and since the black holes had different masses and rotation speeds the waves
Wouldn't have been distributed evenly that a symmetry meant that when the two black holes finally came together
The black hole they merged into was sent zooming off in One [direction] the astronomers plan to spend more time
observing this rogue black hole to learn more about
things like its speed and the gas that surrounds it because like what else do you do when you find something this weird and if
they're right about how it came to be it'll also be some strong evidence for the idea that supermassive black holes can
Merge we know a good bit about how regular [sized] black holes come together
But we still don't understand exactly how it happens with the supermassive ones closer to home
researchers are getting ready to learn more about what happens to [our] bodies in space because
Microgravity does some weird things to human bodies when it comes down to it
We're all just a little too squishy and sensitive so on the next cargo
being launched by space flight company orbital atk to the International space station
Nasa is sending up an experiment that will teach us how space changes our dNa the mission was supposed to launch on Monday?
But was delayed because of an issue with the rocket that was discovered during
Testing before the launch so when it does want the goal of the study is to clarify what we've learned from Nasa's Twin study which?
examined a pair of twin astronauts to learn how microgravity
Affects our bodies because if we're going to start traveling to Mars and Beyond trips that will take months or years
we should know what's going to happen to us before we leave in March of 2016 Scott kelly returned from a year aboard the
Iss the longest uninterrupted trip to space by
An American astronaut Meanwhile Scott's twin a retired astronaut named Mark
Kelly
Spent that year here on Earth since Scott came home the Kelly brothers have participated in all sorts of medical exams and Nasa will release
A summary of their findings later this year and we've already learned something surprising
Nasa found that Scott's telomeres the protective caps at the end of chromosomes had lengthened which is the opposite of what researchers?
Expected as you get older [or] when you're under a lot of stress your telomeres shorten
Which can lead to diseases like cancer and liver dysfunction and researchers have thought living in space would caught that to happen prematurely
But it did, not scott's telomeres got longer while he was in space
and then went back to
Normal when he got back to Earth so this new experiment is trying to figure out why that happened it'll collect blood samples
from the crew on the station and then send samples back to Earth for testing they'll be compared to blood taken before and after the
crew's
spaceflight and
also to samples from control subjects on the ground that'll let researchers get a closer look at what microgravity is doing the telomeres and see
If there are any special mechanisms involved since changes in telomeres are associated with so many health problems
It's important
We figure this out before we start sending astronauts on longer missions and with this new experiment and the whole twin study
We are already making great progress also having both your sons grow up to be astronauts that
Like talk about parenting goals right there also. Hey right now audible is offering scishow space viewers a free 30-day trial membership
You can check out audible.com/scishowspace
Where you can choose from a multitude of audio programs and titles such as bad astronomy by Phil plait go to audible.com/scishowspace
For a free 30-day trial and download you free title today. I use audible right now. I'm listening to New York
21-30 I think is what it's called by Kim Stanley Robinson. It's great and terrifying there's also lots of other great books it. I mean
It's great. I use it all the time and it makes my driving better, and you should check it out also
It helps us out if you go to audible.com/scishowspace. That'd be great