Fat doughnut-shaped dust shrouds¹ that obscure about half of supermassive black holes could be the result of high speed crashes between planets and asteroids²（小行星） , according to a new theory from an international team of astronomers³. The scientists, led by Dr. Sergei Nayakshin of the University of Leicester, are publishing their results in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical⁴ Society.

Supermassive black holes reside in the central parts of most galaxies⁵. Observations indicate that about 50% of them are hidden from view by mysterious clouds of dust, the origin of which is not completely understood. The new theory is inspired by our own Solar System, where the so-called zodiacal（黄道带的） dust is known to originate from collisions between solid bodies such as asteroids and comets. The scientists propose that the central regions of galaxies contain not only black holes and stars but also planets and asteroids.

Collisions between these rocky objects would occur at colossal⁶（巨大的，异常的） speeds as large as 1000 km per second, continuously shattering and fragmenting the objects, until eventually they end up as microscopic⁷ dust. Dr. Nayakshin points out that this harsh environment -- radiation and frequent collisions -- would make the planets orbiting supermassive black holes sterile⁸, even before they are destroyed. "Too bad for life on these planets," he says, "but on the other hand the dust created in this way blocks much of the harmful radiation from reaching the rest of the host galaxy⁹. This in turn may make it easier for life to prosper¹⁰ elsewhere in the rest of the central region of the galaxy."

He also believes that understanding the origin of the dust near black holes is important in our models of how these monsters grow and how exactly they affect their host galaxies. "We suspect that the supermassive black hole in our own Galaxy, the Milky¹¹ Way, expelled（开除，驱逐） most of the gas that would otherwise turn into more stars and planets," he continues, "Understanding the origin of the dust in the inner regions of galaxies would take us one step closer to solving the mystery of the supermassive black holes."