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Astrophysics

How galaxies got their black holes

The massive compact objects in the centres of galaxies developed in at least two ways. One seems to be a natural result of galaxy formation in the Big Bang theory of the expanding Universe — the other is enigmatic. See Letters p.374 & p.377

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Figure 1: The pure-disk galaxy M101.

NASA/ESA/K. KUNTZ (JHU)/F. BRESOLIN (UNIV. HAWAII)/J. TRAUGER (JPL)/J. MOULD (NOAO)/Y.-H. CHU (UNIV. ILLINOIS, URBANA)/STSCI REF. 7

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Peebles, P. How galaxies got their black holes. Nature 469, 305–306 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/469305a

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