Hubble backs theories about black holes

WASHINGTON -- The Hubble Space Telescope has given support to theories that the extremely bright centers of some nearby galaxies are powered by massive black holes, officials at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said Friday.

The NASA officials said research from the telescope rules out vigorous star burst formations as alternative reasons for a mysterious power source brightening the centers of those galaxies.

"Our observations provide perhaps the most direct evidence to date that normal Seyfert galaxies and quasars are not powered by a burst of star formation," said Alexei Filippenko, professor of astronomy at the University of California at Berkeley.

"The most likely alternative, then, is the standard model in which the energy is provided by matter falling into a black hole," Filippenko said.

The Seyfert galaxies are nearby galaxies with bright centers while quasars are distant objects in the universe seen only because they are so brilliant.

While scientists are still debating black hole theories, they suggest that black holes are so compact that gravity prevents even light from escaping.

Scientists surmise that gases, dust and stars falling into the black hole collide, causing enormous heat and light.

This finding by Hubble, the space telescope used to study outer space since April 1990, reinforces other studies that only black holes could produce such tremendous energy in a galaxy, said officials at NASA.