ABSTRACT:  As a result of research using telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, we know that most galaxies contain a supermassive black hole whose mass is nearly a constant fraction of its galaxy’s mass. Quasars are supermassive black holes (SBHs) consuming matter at a prodigious rate and giving off light & radio waves in proportion to the matter consumed. Most SBHs in nearby galaxies are not quasars, and quasars as a group are quite distant — implying that a SBH’s quasar phase happens early in its galaxy’s life. Some scientists theorize that SBHs, while growing in their quasar phase, control the rate of growth in mass of their galaxies. If true, which came first: the galaxy feeding the SBH, or the supermassive black hole controlling the growth of the host galaxy?

Related materials are available in Andersen Library! For example, a search of the HALCat library catalog would find titles such as Chasing Hubble’s Shadows (3rd-floor Main Collection, QB500.262 .K36 2006) and Bright galaxies, dark matters (3rd-floor Main Collection, QB857 .R83 1997). Searching the Library’s article databases, such as the Institute of Physics electronic journals, would find articles such as “Co-Evolution of Supermassive Black Hole and Host Galaxy From z ~ 1 TO z = 0” (The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 696, pp. 1051-1062, doi: 10.1088/0004-637X/696/1/1051).

The European Space Agency’s web pages devoted to the Hubble Space Telescope include the page “Black holes, quasars, and active galaxies.” You also can learn more about the Hubble Space Telescope and its accomplishments and images from NASA’s web site.

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding materials.

The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!

Want to read about meteors and comets? Below are just a few books that are available in Andersen Library on these topics.

• Cosmic Pinball: The Science of Comets, Meteors, and Asteroids by  Carolyn Sumners and Carlton Allen (QB721 .S85 2000, main collection, 3rd floor).
• Comet Science: The Study of Remnants from the Birth of the Solar System by Jacques Crovisier and Thérèse Encrenaz ; translated by Stephen Lyle (QB721 .S85 2000, main collection, 3rd floor).
• Cosmic Phenomena by Gabriele Vanin (QB500 .V36 1999, main oversize collection, 3rd floor).

To find more books on astronomy, search the library catalog.

Andersen Library has many related materials for children and adults. Search the library catalog for children’s materials such as the pop-up book Moon landing (2nd-floor Curriculum Collection, Oversize Juvenile Nonfiction, 629.45 Pla) and Buzz Aldrin’s autobiography Reaching for the moon (2nd-floor Curriculum Collection, Oversize Easy Book, E Ald). Adults may be interested in items such as the 29-minute NASA video The Eagle has landed (2nd-floor Browsing VHS, TL799 .M6 E2x), Michael Collins‘ autobiography Carrying the fire: An astronaut’s journeys (3rd-floor Main Collection, TL789.85 .C64 A33 1974), or The moonlandings: An eyewitness account (3rd-floor Main Collection, TL789.8.U6 A5844 2003).

There also are many articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers about Apollo 11, and spaceflight in general. For example, read articles from the New York Times using the ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times database (pictured at right is part of the front page from July 21, 1969).

Please ask a librarian for assistance with finding additional materials.

The University Library is a federal depository with many federal, state, local, and international documents on a variety of current and relevant issues available to you in print, microfiche, CD-ROM, and electronically. Come check out your government at the University Library!