Media Report
June 4, 2012CBS Detroit reports Wayne State prof part of major black hole breakthrough
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2012/06/03/wayne-state-prof-part-of-major-black-hole-breakthrough/
Wayne State University has collaborated with an international team of astronomers using data from the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton satellite that has identified a long-sought X-ray “echo” that promises a new way to probe supersized black holes in distant galaxies. Edward Cackett, assistant professor of physics and astronomy in WSU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was closely involved in analyzing data, interpreting results and writing the paper recently released on this discovery. “This is a real breakthrough in the study of black holes at the centers of galaxies,” said Cackett. “Just as one can estimate the size of a cavern by listening to sound echoes, here, we can measure the size of the region around the black hole through observing light echoes. This will allow us to map what is happening extremely close to a black hole.”
Wayne State University has collaborated with an international team of astronomers using data from the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton satellite that has identified a long-sought X-ray “echo” that promises a new way to probe supersized black holes in distant galaxies. Edward Cackett, assistant professor of physics and astronomy in WSU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was closely involved in analyzing data, interpreting results and writing the paper recently released on this discovery. “This is a real breakthrough in the study of black holes at the centers of galaxies,” said Cackett. “Just as one can estimate the size of a cavern by listening to sound echoes, here, we can measure the size of the region around the black hole through observing light echoes. This will allow us to map what is happening extremely close to a black hole.”
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