Impressions are gained in a fluid, global, diffused way.
ESO / M. Cornmeaser
It’s an amazing phenomenon that sounds like science fiction, but it’s just plain science. Astronomers say they were able to capture the process of a star cracking through a black hole in unprecedented detail.
The powerful event caught the attention of scientists when a new explosion of light erupted near the supermassive black hole known by the worldwide telescope. Many follow-up observations of the month made it clear that they were seeing the destruction of the distant sun.
“In this case, the star exploded with about half its mass of food – or its product – into a black hole a million times the mass of the Sun, and the other half was thrown out,” explains astronomer Edo Burger. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in a statement.
This violent scene is what astronomers call a tidal disruption event, which occurs when a star approaches a black hole and is cut through it. The process of spaghetification – Basically, the gravity of a black hole is so intense that it swallows it all by pulling whatever comes in a long, thin shape like a piece of spaghetti.
What is a black hole? The dark, mysterious monsters of the universe
See all photos
The event, which goes through the catalog entry AT 2019 qiz and is the closest such flame to be seen 215 million light-years away, was caught so early that scientists were able to get a relatively uncivilized view of the global massacre before a cloud. The star draws the veil over the region of courage.
NASA Einstein Fellow Kate Alexander explains that “we actually saw a veil of dust and debris rising as a powerful flow of material was launched through a black hole at speeds of up to 10,000 km / h (22 million miles per hour). ” Northwestern University. “This is a unique‘ behind-the-scenes peek ’that provided the first opportunity to direct the origins of obscure content and follow in real time how it encircles black holes.
A paper on the discovery was published Monday in the Royal Astronomical Society’s monthly notice.
The phenomenon is so close and clear that Burger says it will help scientists learn more about the powerful forces at work, especially about the simultaneous pulling of a cut star into a black hole and the external explosion of material from the star.
“So far, the nature of these emissions has been heavily debated, but here we see that the two regimes are linked by a single process.”
The hope is that in the future the AT 2019 quiz could be a type of rosette stone for studying and interpreting what a black hole is for lunch. One distant day, even the international astronauts are thankful that this discovery allows them to wrap around the universe regularly, without turning them into space spaghetti.
