Earlier this month, Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez split the 2020 physics Nobel Prize for decades of work on black holes. Click here to learn more about their monumental achievement and about the history of our understanding of these exotic objects in space. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nobel-prize-3-astrophysicists-black-holess-penrose-genzel-ghez…
Tag: supermassive black hole
Physicists keep trying to break the rules of gravity but this supermassive black hole just said ‘no’
A new test of Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity has proved the 20th Century physicist right again, this time using a supermassive black hole. Source: https://www.livescience.com/black-hole-image-shows-einstein-right-again.html
The spin of the supermassive black hole in the Milky Way
Once a black hole forms, its intense gravitational field produces a surface beyond which even light cannot escape, and it appears black to outsiders. All the details of the complex mix of matter and energy in its past are lost, leaving it so simple that it can be completely described by just three parameters: mass, spin, and electric charge. Astronomers can…
Simulations show Webb Telescope can reveal distant galaxies hidden in quasars’ glare
Quasars are the brightest objects in the universe and among the most energetic. They outshine entire galaxies of billions of stars. A supermassive black hole lies at the heart of every quasar, but not every black hole is a quasar. Only the black holes that are feeding most voraciously can power a quasar. Material falling into the supermassive black hole heats…
Astronomers see a star ‘spaghettified’ by a black hole
Astronomers have spotted a rare blast of light from a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. The phenomenon – known as a tidal disruption event – is the closest such flare recorded to date at just over 215 million light-years from Earth. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/star-spaghettified-by-black-hole-at2019qiz…
Black hole caught turning a poor star into spaghetti
This supermassive black hole gobbled up a star in full view of Earth’s telescopes, and could unlock secrets of how these monsters feed. Source: https://www.livescience.com/supermassive-black-hole-spaghettify-star.html
Telescopes Record Last Moments of Star Devoured By a Black Hole
Iwastheone shares a report from SciTechDaily: Using telescopes from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other organizations around the world, astronomers have spotted a rare blast of light from a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. The phenomenon, known as a tidal disruption event, is the closest such flare recorded to date at just over 215 million light-years…
Death by spaghettification: Scientists record last moments of star devoured by black hole
A rare blast of light, emitted by a star as it is sucked in by a supermassive black hole, has been spotted by scientists using telescopes from around the world. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-10-death-spaghettification-scientists-moments-star.html…
Astronomers capture 1st direct image of young giant exoplanet
For the first time, astronomers have obtained an image of the very young gas giant exoplanet Beta Pictoris c, 63 light-years away. Its sibling, Beta Pictoris b, was discovered and photographed in 2008. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/direct-imaging-of-exoplanet-beta-pictoris-c…
Six galaxies snared by supermassive black hole
Astronomers have discovered six ancient galaxies around a black hole 1 billion times the mass of the Sun. Exactly how supermassive black holes came to… Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/339903/six-galaxies-snared-by-supermassive-black-hole…