back to article Distorted light from ancient explosion when the Universe was 3 billion years old helps point astroboffins to intermediate black hole

Scientists have shown that explosions from the early universe might help in solving black holes' middle sibling problem. A statistical analysis of thousands of gamma-ray bursts, the luminous energetic explosions that follow the violent collapse or merging of stars, show a time delay to some of the signals, a tell-tale sign of …

  1. Mike 137 Silver badge

    "electro-magnetic photons"

    All the photons I've ever met were electro-magnetic. Is there any other kind?

    1. Paul Kinsler

      Re: "electro-magnetic photons"

      Perhaps "dark photons"?

      ...

      ... which are indeed apparently a thing, of sorts.

      However, in this case it was probably just belt-n-braces journalistic description.

    2. Francis Boyle Silver badge

      Re: "electro-magnetic photons"

      In my day all the best photons were steam powered. I mean, these new fangled electro-magnetic photons may be clean and fast but where's the atmosphere.

      1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

        Re: "electro-magnetic photons"

        Pfft. If you can't be bothered to specify a preference for wood-fired or coal-fired steam photons, you're just a dilettante.

        I see so many people these days insisting on "clean" fusion-sourced free-range photons. Damn hipsters.

        1. jake Silver badge

          Re: "electro-magnetic photons"

          What about those of us with a custom propane insert in the fire-box to make cold-starts easier?

          Note that scrap wood is only good for redish spectrum and lower. Seasoned oak will get you into green and minor blues. You'll need to spring for coal if you want deep blues and violets.

    3. EBG

      Re: "electro-magnetic photons"

      The whole piece reads like the author is out of his depth with the basics. The fine details of the research would be beyond most of us, but the gist is being conveyed in a way that jars.

  2. steelpillow Silver badge
    Megaphone

    hy-phen five, not

    It is time that the hacks of vul-ture cen-tral learned that there is no hy-phen in "electromagnetic". I cringe when I read this article and others like it.

    Yours, a very hyphen free electromagnetics test engineer.

    1. O RLY
      Trollface

      Re: hy-phen five, not

      "Hyphen free" should, ironically, be hyphenated.

      https://www.gsbe.co.uk/grammar-the-hyphen.html

      https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/hyphen_use.html

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    60 years earlier, if

    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-01172-z

    counts as gravitational lensing.

    1. Tom 7

      Sort of part of a broken Freznell gravitational lensing. Its not really magnifying and concentrating the radiation as befits lensing.

      1. jake Silver badge
    2. Rich 10

      was going to say, lensing around the sun confirmed Einstein's theory - get your science right you youth who don't know 1990 and stay off my lawn!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Boffin

      I was going to post a comment saying just this. I'd certainly count the 1919 test of GR by Eddington as a demonstration of gravitational lensing.

  4. Neil Barnes Silver badge
    Coat

    Looking for an invisible thing in the dark; it's not easy

    Yesterday upon the stair

    I met a man who wasn't there

    I met him once again today

    I wish that man would go away

    I don't think there's a black hole in my pocket, but I can't get my hand out... --->

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