Identity parade clears cosmic collisions of the suspicion of promoting black hole growth
Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - 08:31
in Astronomy & Space
What happens when galaxies crash together? For years, these cosmic collisions have been blamed for triggering violent outbursts at the hearts of galaxies. Now, a remarkable piece of detective work has given a verdict: galactic mergers do not usually whet the appetite of the black holes that power these active galactic nuclei, meaning other, less dramatic phenomena are responsible.