With the advent of the Webb Space Telescope, the problem has pushed up against theoretical limits. The matter falling into a black hole generates radiation, with faster feeding meaning more radiation. And that radiation can drive off nearby matter, choking off the black hole’s food supply. That sets a limit on how fast black holes can grow unless matter is somehow fed directly into them. The Webb was used to identify early supermassive black holes that needed to have been pushing against the limit for their entire existence.
Oh but when I feed at 40 times the theoretical limit my doctor calls me “unhealthy” and “you’re eating yourself to death”
ugh. double standards. Doctors in astrophysics are much more accepting than medical ones
This is a seriously cool article. An accretion disk tens of thousands of light-years across is fucking wild. That’s getting awfully close to our own SMBH at our galactic core, sag A* if LID was placed between us and our SMBH.
A fucking plasma of superheated matter from a black hole could be crisping our black hole and Earth simultaneously. Jesus.
I love how every time we get a better look at them black holes slap around our current understanding of things
