Calculating Speed and Acceleration of a Gas Blob Orbiting a Massive Black Hole

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naushaan
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TL;DR
Hi everyone,
I'm confused with how to calculate the speed and accelerations of gas blobs emitted from mega-masers in orbit around massive black holes in the centre of a galaxy.
A mega-maser-emitting blob of gas is in orbit around a massive black hole in the centre of a galaxy. The black hole has a mass of 106 solar masses, and the blob of gas is in a circular orbit one light year away. What is the speed and acceleration of the blob?
 
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This is a simple orbital mechanics problem. What is the speed and acceleration of an object orbiting at a distance R around a body of mass M? By the way, I suspect you mean 10^6 solar masses, not 106 solar masses.
 
phyzguy said:
This is a simple orbital mechanics problem. What is the speed and acceleration of an object orbiting at a distance R around a body of mass M? By the way, I suspect you mean 10^6 solar masses, not 106 solar masses.

Did he ask that? You could read it as an object (mega-maser) launching something (a blob). The object has the orbital mechanics. If it really is just a maser then the emission travels at light speed.

I am not sure if I understood astrophysical masers. I thought the molecules were all around an object and not necessarily in a particular orbit.
 
stefan r said:
Did he ask that? You could read it as an object (mega-maser) launching something (a blob). The object has the orbital mechanics. If it really is just a maser then the emission travels at light speed.

I am not sure if I understood astrophysical masers. I thought the molecules were all around an object and not necessarily in a particular orbit.
I don't know how else to interpret, "the blob of gas is in a circular orbit one light year away. What is the speed and acceleration of the blob?"
 
phyzguy said:
I don't know how else to interpret, "the blob of gas is in a circular orbit one light year away. What is the speed and acceleration of the blob?"

yes i think that's exactly how to do it, i think i figured it out by using the formulas a=v^4/GM and v=(GM/r)^1/2. thank you!
 

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