http://physicsworld.com/cws/article...-seen-whizzing-around-supermassive-black-hole Another thing they got wrong in Star Trek V! Anyway, I think the supermassive black hole was already pretty much accepted by most astronomers without debate, but its nice to know for sure. I would guess that most galaxies have some sort of supermassive object at its core... at least the spiral, ring, and elliptical types.
I suppose so... I don't know much about astrophysics, but maybe someone here has a better answer for that...
Ultimately, these stars clustered at the center would collapse in on each other, thus creating a black hole. So it likely depends on the age of the galaxy.
No, because there are no stars visible at the center of the other stars' orbit (or foci of their orbits, since the orbits are elliptical). These stars are orbiting something that is (1) supermassive and (2) invisible. A black hole fits that description.
Aside from Paladin' logic, I think this is one of those deals where it's best to defer to the astrophysicists; this is their bread and butter. As for 'testing' General Relativity, look somewhere less crowded, distant, and uncertain than the center of the Milky Way. I like the two pulsar test, my own self.
Now, we just have to build a Constitution class ship, slingshot it up to warp 9.995, and smash into this thing fast enough that it passes through faster than the gravity can crush it, and slip safely through to Megas-Tu.
Actually, even though it is classed as 'supermassive', its the relatively small size that makes it much more likely to be a black hole than anything else. The radius of the object is less than 6.25 light-hours, less than the ornit of Uranus. Anything that small and that massive will have to collapse into a black hole.
Agreed -- I wasn't talking about this specific example, but suggesting a different way for a spiral galaxy to be organized. It was a response to Robotech Master's thought that all galaxies might have black holes at the center.
Considering how large the universe is, I'm sure there are many configurations of galaxies out there that we haven't even dreamed of... What are quasars exactly? Aren't those like galactic nuclei?
