are super-massive black holes responsible for the spiral shapes of galaxies?
thanks
2007-11-02 07:50:31 · 3 answers · asked by turk6060 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
A super-massive black hole does not affect the size and shape of the galaxy itself. It seems that its main function is to hold everything within the galaxy together. I think that glaxies form whatever shape they do according to the speed of their rotation. There was a recent galaxy discovered, that was moving so fast that it was being slowing stripped of its stars, which were floating out into nowhere.
2007-11-02 12:26:17 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hi. Not all galaxies are spirals. Some are irregular, some elliptical, some drawn out due to gravity, etc. I think that the existence of a super-massive black hole should prove the existence of a large amount of matter to begin with. That you wind up with a quasar which evolves (matures) into a spiral may be a natural result. So my answer is that they may be caused by the same thing. Neither necessarily 'responsible' for the other.
2007-11-02 15:52:46 · answer #2 · answered by Cirric 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
probably not directly. A mass - *any* mass - of small objects will eventually form a disk, eventually with the spiral appearance. Probably our solar system when it was forming looked something like it as well. The mass at the center - the black hole - could just as easily have been a dense mass of regular stars, too.
2007-11-02 15:05:44 · answer #3 · answered by quantumclaustrophobe 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋