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- To: terrafirma@ibm.net
- Subject: Re: MERLIN
- From: Pat Osmer <posmer@astronomy.ohio-state.edu>
- Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 11:28:46 -0500 (EST)
Dear JJ Swaim, A few brief comments on your message. Gas in the vicinity of black holes can be accelerated to very high velocities by the gravitational field of the black hole. It's hard to say what the original velocity may have been. Such gas being pulled into the vicinity or swallowed by the black hole indeed gives off much energy - that's what powers the X-ray sources and probably quasars. The activity near the black hole obviously has great effects. However, at our large distance from such objects, the effects in our solar system are negligible to my knowledge. While gas can get accelerated to near the speed of light in the vicinity of the black hole, it does not exceed the speed of light. We do get spectral information on gas in the near the black hole and use it to deduce physical conditions. I hope this information is helpful. Unfortunately, I am not aware of what other forums may be available for this topic. Patrick Osmer
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