Massive Black Holes and Supermassive Black Holes

Flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to massive black holes and supermassive black holes as discussed in the lecture notes.

Supermassive Black Hole

A type of black hole with a mass equivalent to millions or billions of solar masses, typically located at the center of galaxies.

Accretion Disk

A structure formed by diffuse material in orbital motion around a central body, often associated with black holes where matter spirals inwards.

Event Horizon

The boundary surrounding a black hole beyond which no light or other information can escape.

X-ray Telescopes

Telescopes designed to observe X-ray emissions from high-energy regions of the universe, such as those around supermassive black holes.

Galaxy

A massive system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter, bound together by gravity.

Stellar Mass

A unit of mass used in astronomy to describe the mass of stars; one solar mass is the mass of our sun.

Giant Mass Object

An extremely large mass, often used to describe the central black holes around which stars and gas orbit.

Orbiting

The motion of an object in a curved path around a larger object due to gravitational attraction.

Hot Gas

High-energy gas that can be found in the accretion disk around a black hole, often heated to extreme temperatures.

Whirlpool of Gas

A dynamic and chaotic movement pattern of gas, especially as it spirals towards the event horizon of a black hole.