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1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,735 Ron: I’m Dr. Ronald Gamble. 2 00:00:01,735 --> 00:00:05,372 I conduct my own research on the physics of supermassive 3 00:00:05,372 --> 00:00:08,074 black holes and the relativistic jets that come off of them. 4 00:00:08,074 --> 00:00:09,309 Jacob: These jets 5 00:00:09,309 --> 00:00:12,879 What are those and how does how are those related to black holes? 6 00:00:12,879 --> 00:00:16,416 Ron: Oh, boy. So that’s ... those, those are very exciting. 7 00:00:16,416 --> 00:00:17,417 Jacob: Okay. 8 00:00:17,417 --> 00:00:20,420 Ron: You can think of them as kind of black hole lasers or lighthouses. 9 00:00:20,420 --> 00:00:21,054 Jacob: Okay. Ron: Right? 10 00:00:21,054 --> 00:00:24,324 So they're coming not inside the black hole because nothing can come out. 11 00:00:24,357 --> 00:00:26,893 Jacob: Yeah. Ron: But they're coming right off the surface. Right? 12 00:00:26,893 --> 00:00:30,296 So there is what's called a photon sphere where all the photons, 13 00:00:30,296 --> 00:00:33,900 the light scatters, it’s kind of like the last illuminated 14 00:00:33,900 --> 00:00:37,170 surface around a black hole where all the light scatters around. 15 00:00:37,170 --> 00:00:38,638 And these things are swirling 16 00:00:38,638 --> 00:00:41,808 all there at the speed of light, and then they get blasted off. 17 00:00:42,008 --> 00:00:42,542 Jacob: Okay 18 00:00:42,542 --> 00:00:46,646 Ron: Part of the reason why they get blasted off is due to the magnetic 19 00:00:46,646 --> 00:00:49,949 fields around black holes. There are still unknown questions as to 20 00:00:49,949 --> 00:00:52,952 why the black hole spews a jet out 21 00:00:53,386 --> 00:00:57,323 and why these particles go from zero to light-speed in an instant. 22 00:00:57,490 --> 00:00:58,291 Jacob: Wow. Ron: Yeah. 23 00:00:58,291 --> 00:01:00,894 So that's part of my research: trying to figure out the why. 24 00:01:00,894 --> 00:01:04,497 Jacob: Yeah Ron: But other than that, the jets, they can be very long. 25 00:01:04,497 --> 00:01:09,602 We're talking 3,000 light-years to 3 million light-years. Jacob: Wow. 26 00:01:09,669 --> 00:01:12,572 So they're very, very long, very bright. Jacob: Sure. 27 00:01:12,572 --> 00:01:14,707 Ron: And the jets pointing directly at us, 28 00:01:14,707 --> 00:01:17,710 those are active galactic nuclei that are called blazars. 29 00:01:17,911 --> 00:01:21,414 Again, it gives us a different perspective, it gives us kind of like a 30 00:01:21,414 --> 00:01:22,515 a down-the-barrel kind of look 31 00:01:22,515 --> 00:01:25,051 on what the jet is doing, what what information it's giving us. |