In the past, scientists are adamant that massive black holes consume hot ionized gas in order to maintain its size. In layman's terms, this basically means that black holes feed on hot gas in order to remain massive. However, a new discovery by a team of scientists conducting their research in Chile has shed new light to the mysterious intricacies of black holes.
A group of scientists who was conducting research using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array or ALMA in Chile has observed a phenomenon that has yet to be experienced before. According to a recent report by It Online, their research made them privy to a super massive black hole consuming rain from celestial gas clouds. The recent discovery marks the first time direct evidence of the formation of cold dense clouds that can fuse with immensely hot gas.
The observation is particularly exciting since it shatters preconceived notions scientists have surrounding black holes. According to Yale professor and lead author of the ALMA research Grant Tremblay, the discovery is important since it sheds more light to the elusive existence of black holes.
"Although it has been a major theoretical prediction in recent years, this is one of the first unambiguous pieces of observational evidence for a chaotic, cold rain feeding a supermassive black hole. It's exciting to think we might actually be observing this galaxy-spanning rainstorm feeding a black hole whose mass is about 300-million times that of the Sun," quipped by Tremblay in the same IT Online report.
2016 has been a great year for discovering and proving long-standing theories surrounding celestial objects. Earlier this year, scientists have announced the discovery of verifiable evidence proving the existence of gravitational fields, as reported by Science Mag.
Experts from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory or LIGO explained that their discovery is a product of their observation of two massive black holes that spiraled into each other about 1.3 billion years ago. The collision swung by the earth five months ago, and from there, scientists verified ripples in the fabric of space and time cause by these two massive celestial objects.