Miniature Quasar found in Andromeda galaxy

[Inceptor]

A stellar mass black hole in the Andromeda galaxy is eating matter and energy at such a large rate that astronomers are calling it a miniature quasar.

In other words, this object emits roughly a million times the energy of our Sun in X-rays alone.

http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/...-in-andromeda/


So... I guess that means that a large region of M31 in the area around that quasar is sterile.

[NinkobEi]

Originally Posted by Inceptor

So... I guess that means that a large region of M31 in the area around that quasar is sterile.

Or perhaps there is life that feeds on radiation much like we do heat and infrared. Like photosynthesis but with x-rays.

[Inceptor]

I suppose that's possible, but then it wouldn't be 'biological' in our sense of the word. High energy radiation destroys organic molecules, disrupts biological processes, that's why it's lethal to us.

[McSteel]

Photosynthesis works by exploiting a double-entanglement phenomenon. Namely, plants possess an ability to capture a photon, which becomes "wedged" between two potential wells. At some point, since the photon becomes entangled with both receptor ends of a chlorophyll, it is present at both wells at once, eventually energizing two electrons enough to ionize the P680 and P700 pigments to become oxidizing agents, aiding in production of ATP (energy storage/carrier) and NADPH (reduction agent/catalyst).

The point of all this is that the pigments required for carbon fixation (chaining carbon atoms together, from CO2 into sugars) are only able to do their magic with 680nm and 700nm photons (hence their names), as their potential wells for photon capture are specific to the energy such photons carry. X-ray photons are in the 0.01 to 10nm range, meaning their energy is ~70 to ~70 000 times greater. This would require an incredibly complex structure, capable of scattering the photon multiple times before it can be held, and some pretty incredible heat sinking capability because such a process would generate great amounts of heat.

Probably some artificial structures could exist to take advantage of such great energy emissions, but most likely not organic ones, since they'd be very inefficient.

[lyndonguitar]

What if it's artificial??