‘Cosmic Scene Investigation’: Cool New Simulation Gives Details on Invisible Black Hole
- Posted on May 4, 2012 at 3:32pm by
Liz Klimas
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Simulation of a black hole flare. (Image: NASA, S. Gezari (The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md.), A. Rest (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.), and R. Chornock (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Ma.) via Space.com)
Last year, NASA satellites caught evidence of a black hole in the act of swallowing a star. Until then, researchers had only seen the aftermath of such destruction. Now, a team from Johns Hopkins University has been able to put together a simulation of the event.
Space.com likens the work Johns Hopkins astronomer Suvi Gezari led to CSI — cosmic scene investigation. Not only were the researchers able to figure what what sort of star was being “murdered” but also what the act looked like in real time.
Check out the simulation:
The simulation above, as Gezari explained to CBS’s Baltimore affiliate shows how “the gravitational force of the black hole literally ripped it apart, stretched it into a thin stream.”
According to Space.com, the black hole’s activity was first spotted in 2010 when a flare was scene in what was thought a dormant black hole 2.7-billion light years away. Here’s more about what the telescopes that registered data in the months following:
When the star is ripped apart by the gravitational forces of the black hole, some part of the star’s remains falls into the black hole while the rest is ejected at high speeds,” Gezari said. “We are seeing the glow from the stellar gas falling into the black hole over time.”
The flare of light reached peak brightness a month after it was detected, then slowly faded over the next 12 months. By measuring the rise of the flare’s brightness, the scientists calculated the rate at which the star’s gas was getting sucked into the black hole. This in turn helped reveal at what point and time the black hole had begun disrupting the star, revealing how powerful its gravitational field was and thus its mass.
The astronomers estimate the black hole’s mass to be 3 million suns, comparable to our Milky Way’s central black hole.
Space.com also notes they team analyzed the spectrum of gas that was ejected from the black hole in order to determine what kind of star was swallowed. Gezari said she believes the star was at first surrounded by a “hydrogen envelope,” which was eventually sucked up by the black hole. Then, she believes the star got closer to the hole — as close as the distance between the Sun and Mercury — before it was consumed. It was at this point Gezari said they observed helium streaming into the black hole.
“This is the first time where we have so many pieces of evidence, and now we can put them all together to weigh the perpetrator — the black hole — and determine the identity of the unlucky star that fell victim to it,” Gezari said to Space.com. “These observations also give us clues to what evidence to look for in the future to find this type of event.”
[H/T Drudge Report]
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AuraStream
Posted on May 8, 2012 at 12:31pmDoes this mean one day our sun too will be a black hole?
Report Post »hwyllie
Posted on May 5, 2012 at 1:41pmId always thought a black hole was caused by the collapsing of a star causin, due to its immense mass, a rip in space time. If that were true how could one ever go dormant? Isn’t the entire worm hole theory based on this rip in space time? can someone more learned then myself help me understand this?
Report Post »MTCOWBOY711
Posted on May 5, 2012 at 2:15pmBlack holes are new to science and physics, and this leads to theory more than proof since there are very few that can be actually “seen”. As far as dormancy goes, my guess would be that once all matter surrounding them is consumed, they appear “dormant” until something crosses their realm.
Report Post »MTCOWBOY711
Posted on May 5, 2012 at 2:22pmThis site might be helpful:
http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/black_holes/
Report Post »Chris
Posted on May 5, 2012 at 6:32pmBlack holes may not be completely stable (which may depend on the size) but if there is nothing nearby for them to pull in they don’t really do anything. In the current thinking they are a singularity – a place where the values of some of the properties go to infinity. Singularities really bother a number of scientists so there has always been some level of debate about whether the singularity represents what is really going on, a by-product of an incomplete understanding of the physics, and / or an inability of the math to represent what is going on
In any event, you really don’t see a black hole directly, you only see it by what it does to things around it.
Report Post »Lesbian Packing Hollow Points
Posted on May 5, 2012 at 9:28pm@ MT Cowboy 711:
There’s nothing theoretical about the EXISTENCE of black holes. Black holes exist. Period. They’re not like Anthropogenic Global Climate Change, for which the data is contradictory when it’s not scant. The immense gravitational fields of black holes have been directly measured by their effects on the warping of light from backing stars. While not able to opticly image a black hole directly, by definition, we can concretely detect them and even gauge their sizes to immense precision.
This is not to say that black holes are easily, or even at all, understood by the average person. Many still think that crossing the event horizon means instant death, even though for super-massive black holes, the event horizon is so far away that entire planets could be orbitting just inside them and survive for eons unseen by the outside world. Their export markets would just be rather sparce.
Report Post »teddrunk
Posted on May 5, 2012 at 11:21amOh THAT black hole. I thought the article was about Obama.
Report Post »Cesium
Posted on May 5, 2012 at 3:44amI love it.. Faith stories get 800 comments on the blaze.. Science stories on the Blaze.. 3… says a lot about the readers
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on May 5, 2012 at 12:49pmwell this is informative, and interesting to me . what kind of comment is warranted, other than to comment on a comment????
Report Post »I am sure the clicks & time duration spent, justify the article.
Bet ya a couple of hundred folks read this article…………..
KaitlinLogic
Posted on May 5, 2012 at 3:39amthis is so awesome. scary, but awesome nonetheless. its things like Black Holes that remind me we are nothing but bacteria to this Universe.
Report Post »lel2007
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 8:02pmBlack holes really suck.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 7:59pmIt SUCKS! Thank GOD… HE gave some of us SOUL!
Report Post »tonydanibradbury
Posted on May 4, 2012 at 6:35pmCorrection:
According to Space.com, the black hole’s activity was first spotted in 2010 when a flare was scene in what was thought a dormant black hole 2.7-billion light years away.
“seen” not “scene”
Report Post »SovereignSoul
Posted on May 5, 2012 at 3:31pmTheir our numerous articles both online and in print that need proof reading.. I guess riders do not take there craft Sirius-ly these days.
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