Daily Archives: September 18, 2014

The dwarf galaxy M60-UCD1 has a supermassive black hole five times more massive than the Milky Way's. (Credit: NASA, ESA and A. Seth - University of Utah, USA)

An international team of astronomers have announced that theyve discovered a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy M60-UCD1. This is the smallest known galaxy to have a supermassive black hole.

It is the smallest and lightest object that we know of that has a supermassive black hole, lead researcher Anil Seth said in a press release. Its also one of the most black hole-dominated galaxies known.

M60-UCD1 is about 50 million light-years away from Earth and is much smaller than our own Milky Way. Its one of many ultra-compact dwarf galaxies that astronomers have discovered. Its diameter is only 300 light-years 1/500th of the diameter of our galaxy. And those 300 light years are packed with 140 million stars.

Despite their compactness, these types of galaxies still tend to be more massive than astronomers would otherwise expect. This has led some astronomers to theorize that as small as they are, these galaxies may contain supermassive black holes at their center.

We had already published a study that suggested this additional weight could come from the presence of supermassive black holes, but it was only a theory, co-researcher Steffen Mieske of the European Southern Observatory said in a statement. Now, by studying the movement of the stars within M60-UCD1, we have detected the effects of such a black hole at its center.

The astronomers detected the black hole by studying images of the galaxy that had been made with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii. These images were then studied to determine the effect of the unseen black hole and determine information about it.

Through this data, the scientists determined that the black hole has the mass of about 21 million Suns five times more massive than the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. This black hole is so massive, in fact, that it comprises about 15 percent of the total mass of M60-UCD1. By comparison, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way comprises less than about 0.01% of the galaxys total mass.

If this type of black hole is discovered at the center of other ultra-compact galaxies, it could provide a good theory for how these galaxies form in the first place.

This finding suggests that dwarf galaxies may actually be the stripped remnants of larger galaxies that were torn apart during collisions with other galaxies, rather than small islands of stars born in isolation, Seth added in a release. We dont know of any other way you could make a black hole so big in an object this small.

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Astronomers Find A Supermassive Black Hole In A Tiny Galaxy

An Atlas V rocket lifts off with the mysterious CLIO satellite. (Credit: ULA)

Tuesday night at 8:10 EDT, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Complex after a short weather delay. This marks the 11th successful launch for ULA this year.

The rocket was carrying a satellite known only as CLIO, which it delivered into an unidentified (though probably geosynchronous) orbit. This satellite was built by Lockheed Martin and based on that companys A2100 Satellite bus. This framework is typically used for telecommunications satellites, and according to Lockheed, over 40 satellites with the A2100 bus are currently in orbit.

The level of secrecy for this satellite is somewhat unusual, especially since the which U.S. government agency is the customer for this satellite hasnt been identified at all. For example, even satellites intended for use to gather intelligence data are typically identified as being launched on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office.

In a press release, Lockheeds executive VP, Rick Ambrose, merely commented as follows: We are very proud to deliver mission success for our U.S. Government customer. Our A2100 bus provides outstanding reliability, flexibility and proven performance, all at an affordable cost to our customers.

The next launch for ULA is scheduled for October 29, 2014, when an Atlas V rocket will deliver next generation GPS satellites into orbit on behalf of the Air Force. The next launch scheduled for September is a SpaceX launch on September 20, where it will deliver a Dragon capsule loaded with cargo to the International Space Station.

You can watch a video with highlights from the launch below:

To see what else has launched and whats planned to launch this month, please see ourSeptember launch schedule.

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Mystery U.S. Government Satellite Is Now In Orbit

Blue Origin tests its BE-3 rocket engine. (Credit: Blue Origin)

The Jeff Bezos-founded commercial space company Blue Origin announced today that it has entered into a partnership with the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance. The jointly-funded partnership is aimed at developing the BE-4, a new, U.S.-built rocket engine to be used in ULAs next generation of rockets.

The BE-4 will be fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen gas to produce a total of about 550,000 pounds of thrust. Blue Origin has already built a liquid natural gas testing facility in Texas, and the company says that testing of various engine components is already underway. The goal of the partnership is to have the BE-4 engine ready for testing by 2016 and flight by 2019. Two BE-4 engines will be used for ULAs next-gen rocket in order to deliver a combined thrust of 1,100,000 lbf.

In December 2013, Blue Origin debuted the BE-4s predecessor engine, the BE-3. That engine is a liquid hydrogen fueled engine that can deliver 110,000 pounds of thrust.

One thing that was mentioned today by the two companies is that contrary to previous reports, the BE-4 is not intended to serve as a replacement for the Russian-built RD-180, which currently serves as the primary engine for ULAs Atlas V rocket.

The BE-4 is not a direct replacement for the RD-180 that powers ULAs Atlas V rocket, however two BE-4s are expected to provide the engine thrust for the next generation ULA vehicles, the companies said in a FAQ document sent to the media. The details related to ULAs next generation vehicles which will maintain the key heritage components of ULAs Atlas and Delta rockets that provide world class mission assurance and reliability will be announced at a later date.

According to both ULA and Blue Origin, this development will be 100% privately funded no government money involved. However, the engine will be built to meet Air Force requirements for its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, for which ULA is the primary vendor. Both companies aim to develop the engine in a way that reduces the costs of current launches.

The team at Blue Origin is methodically developing technologies to enable human access to space at dramatically lower cost and increased reliability, and the BE-4 is a big step forward, Bezos said in a statement. With the new ULA partnership, were accelerating commercial development of the next great US-made rocket engine.

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Jeff Bezos' Space Company Enters Partnership To Build Next Gen Rocket Engine