Among the most powerful phenomena in space are the jets of material spat out by
  supermassive black holes, which anchor many galaxies. These hypervelocity streams
  of superheated gas, called plasma, are concentrated into two narrow paths that 
  travel in opposite directions, along a galaxy. s axis of rotation. 

  But the forces and processes that funnel and propel these magnificent structures,
  which can span light-years of space, are mostly mysterious. 

  New clues come from an unlikely source: a nuclear research program. 

  In recent years, two Caltech researchers have been modeling magnetic activity on 
  the Sun by using a stainless steel vacuum chamber called a spheromak. The device
  was developed primarily to study nuclear fusion, the process that powers the Sun
  and which has been studied as a possible source of terrestrial power. The 
  scientists, Scott Hsu and Paul Bellan, have now figured out how to employ the 
  spheromak to mimic a black hole's jets. 

  They use magnetic energy to harness plasma into jets that they say share many of
  the characteristics of black hole jets. They will report their research tomorrow
  at an annual meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Plasma Physics
  in Orlando, Fla. 

  The whole experiment goes on in a cylinder the size of a large closet. Though the
  device and the result both involve complex physics, little coaxing is needed for 
  the jets to form, it turns out. 

   "Photographs clearly show that the jet-like structures in the experiment form 
   spontaneously," Bellan said. 

   The lab device uses voltage differences between two electrodes to create magnetic
   field lines that simulate an accretion disk in a plasma of hydrogen. The current
   applied is tens of thousands of times more powerful than what runs your toaster. 

   The work supports a theory about the real astrophysical jets. 

   The idea is that jets can form when magnetic fields are twisted by the rotation of
   an accretion disk, the name given to a rotating and relatively flat disk in which
   matter spirals inward toward a black hole. Once inside a black hole, matter is
   trapped. But on the way in, as it approaches the speed of light, much of the matter
   is converted to plasma, and not all of it seems to pass through the so-called event
   horizon, a sphere of no return. 

   Magnetic forces are said to squeeze some of this plasma and the magnetic energy 
   embedded in it into narrow jets that shoots out along the axis of rotation. 
   (A study last year showed that black holes themselves probably rotate.

   None of this can actually be observed developing around supermassive black holes,
   because the process can't be measured in human time scales. We. re talking about 
   galaxies that are billions of light years away and took billions of years to evolve. 

   However, astronomers have witnessed the outlines of such actions in the 
   environments surrounding stellar black holes, objects within our own galaxy though
   to have formed when massive stars collapse. 

   In June, scientists reported that the jets from stellar black holes are indeed 
   related to the accretion disks. And earlier this month, a research team revealed
   a remarkable set of observations detailing the entire life cycle of a jet emanating
   from a stellar black hole. 

   Hsu and Bellan say the spheromak jets also develop wiggles, scientifically called
   helical instabilities, that have been observed in black hole jets as well. 

  By Robert Roy Britt
  Senior Science Writer
  posted: 07:00 am ET
  11 November 2002
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/blackhole_antics_021111.html

------------------------------------------------------------------

"Perceptions" note: regular readers will know that most of the `science' 
 quoted above is misleading or downright untrue.

 However, mainstream `science' is stuck up a creek without a paddle after
 jumping on the fake "black holes" bandwaggon (mixed metaphors)

 Check out http://www.perceptions.couk.com/uef/nblckhls.html and maybe a 
 look at http://www.perceptions.couk.com/uef/uchoose.html (+ anything else 
 that takes your interest)

-----------------------------------------------

              FURTHER REFERENCES

 GO - "search perceptions" - in SEARCH-ENGINE


file-ID www.perceptions.couk.com/uef/tulate.txt