Word: disks
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...growing consensus that gigantic black holes lurk at the core of many galaxies--including our own--was confirmed by Holland Ford, now at Johns Hopkins, and his collaborators, who used the Hubble to spot a superheated disk of gas spinning at a dizzying 1.2 million m.p.h. at the very heart of the galaxy M87, 50 million light-years from Earth. The only reasonable explanation: the gas is funneling, like water down a drain, into the gravitational pit of a black hole as massive as 2 million suns...
...their status, the chances for contentiousness and delays seemed high. In fact, it all went smoothly. Demonstrating patience and mutual respect, the subjects admirably reflected the principles of the organization they were honoring. After a few practice shots, the photographer yelled "Ready!" and flipped over a huge gold disk with a smile painted on it in black. Everyone laughed, and the moment was caught...
Aside, perhaps, from its somewhat unfortunate acronym--sounding like a heavy black disk to be slapped around--the Progressive Undergraduate Council Coalition (PUCC) has the right spirit but an unbelievably flawed approach...
...protostars avoid going into a superfast spin. When a new star finally becomes massive enough to ignite the nuclear-fusion reaction that makes it shine, the resulting outward blast of energy would stop any more matter from falling in, the jets would turn off, and the remaining dusty disk would start clumping together to form planets...
...theory went. Until last week, however, there was no visual confirmation -- and certainly nothing even close to the amazing images released last week. Nor had anyone ever been able to peer closely enough at a newly forming star to see the spinning disk that theorists believed must be there but which the Hubble has now captured. Says Space Telescope Institute astronomer Jon Morse: "This image is going to be featured in every textbook published in the next decade...