Supermassive black hole dusts remnants of planet-asteroid collisions - study

Supermassive black hole dusts | NASA Photo

Supermassive black hole dusts may be the remains of cosmic collisions, according to a study.

An international team of astronomers led by Dr. Sergei Nayakshin theorized that these shrouds of fat doughnut-shaped dusts surrounding fifty percent of supermassive black holes could be the result of high speed crashes between planets and asteroids. The scientists propose that the central regions of galaxies contain not only black holes and stars but also planets and asteroids.

Dr. Nayakshin points out that this harsh environment - radiation and frequent collisions - would make the planets orbiting supermassive black holes sterile, even before they are destroyed.

"Too bad for life on these planets", he says, "but on the other hand the dust created in this way blocks much of the harmful radiation from reaching the rest of the host galaxy. This in turn may make it easier for life to prosper elsewhere in the rest of the central region of the galaxy."

He also believes that understanding the origin of the dust near black holes is important in our models of how these monsters grow and how exactly they affect their host galaxies.

"We suspect that the supermassive black hole in our own Galaxy, the Milky Way, expelled most of the gas that would otherwise turn into more stars and planets", he continues, "Understanding the origin of the dust in the inner regions of galaxies would take us one step closer to solving the mystery of the supermassive black holes".

A Press Release from the Royal Astronomical Society