In the not-too-distant future, an Ohio State-inspired satellite observatory could be orbiting high above the earth, watching black holes feast on far-away galaxies.

Bradley Peterson, professor of astronomy, has submitted a proposal to NASA for the Kronos observatory, a satellite that will be able to image material spiraling into black holes with a resolution 10,000 times finer than now possible with the Hubble Space Telescope.

Ohio State's partners in this endeavor include NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the Space Telescope Science Institute, Battelle Memorial Institute, Penn State University and Rutgers University, as well as a host of national and international universities and observatories.

Should NASA choose to fund Kronos, the observatory will turn its eye to some of the brightest objects in the universe.

Among galaxies, a special subset known as "active galaxies" have very bright centers, or nuclei. These nuclei are so bright as to outshine all the other stars in those galaxies. When astronomers look to the sky to learn how galaxies form, it's the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that are practically screaming for attention.

Current theory holds that very massive black holes may literally be consuming the center of these galaxies. So much gas and dust is being pulled into these black holes, astronomers think, that the material becomes superheated and emits light. Large black holes in the center of galaxies could play a major role in how galaxies are created, and how they change over time.

Sometime in May 2002, NASA will announce which four of its 40 received proposals have passed the first cut in its Medium Explorer program. These four will undergo proof-of-concept studies, and six months later a final two projects will be selected for spaceflight.

If Kronos is chosen, Ohio State will be the prime contractor for the observatory, creating data analysis software, calibrating the satellite's orbit, and managing the mission in general. Until then, details about the Kronos proposal can be found on the Web.