Sunday, September 15, 2019

Sept 15 - Black Hole Sunday

FaceBookShare
TwitterShare
color-instagram-96.png
color-link-96.png
Artist's concept of an object called S0-2 orbiting our Milky Way's supermassive black hole. Astronomers tracked this object for years, hoping to catch it falling over the hole's event horizon. It did not fall in, but its close approach in 2018 might be one reason for the black hole’s growing appetite now. Image via Nicolle Fuller/National Science Foundation. Read more
Milky Way's black hole appears to be getting hungrier
UCLA astronomers announced last week that - in May - they caught the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy having an unusually large meal of interstellar gas and dust. And they don’t yet understand why. Why did the area just outside the black hole’s event horizon - its point of no return - suddenly become dramatically brighter? What did the black hole ingest, and why at that time? Andrea Ghez, head of UCLA's Galactic Center Group, commented, "We have never seen anything like this in the 24 years we have studied the supermassive black hole. It’s usually a pretty quiet, wimpy black hole on a diet. We don’t know what is driving this big feast." Read more and watch a video
A distant galaxy's black hole seen to flare unexpectedly
Astronomers now call recently-discovered flares from supermassive black holes in distant galaxies quasi-periodic eruptions. "Giant black holes regularly flicker like a candle but the rapid, repeating changes seen in GSN 069 from December onwards are something completely new," said one scientist. Read more.

What we're reading 

 

From MIT News … Ringing of newborn black hole detected for 1st time

If Einstein’s theory of general relativity holds true, then a black hole born from the collision of 2 other black holes should “ring.” It should produce gravitational waves much as a struck bell emits reverberating sound waves. Now, physicists from MIT and elsewhere have studied the ringing of an infant black hole, and found that the pattern of this ringing matches Einstein's predictions. Read more.

Last week's exoplanet controversy

 

Is K2-18b really a habitable super-Earth?

It was exciting last week when scientists announced water vapor in a super-Earth's atmosphere. But, even as the announcement came, other scientists were cautioning that the planet - K2-18b - is probably less like a super-Earth and more like a mini-Neptune. Read more.
Thank you all for shopping at The EarthSky Store! Your support helps EarthSky keep going.

Kids tees, long sleeved tees, toys, and more. Your support means the world to us and allows us to keep going. Click here to shop.
Look west after sunrise for the daytime moon
View larger. | Paul Schulz caught the moon just past full - this time a year ago, September 2018 - above and behind Mt. Graham in Arizona. Thanks, Paul! 

Oh my!

Like this photo? It's a sea otter in Seward, Alaska, caught by Harry Walker. The photo is one of 40 finalists in this year's Affinity Photo People's Choice Awards. Have your say and a laugh by joining in for the judging. See more finalist photos, and vote, here.
Submit your photo to EarthSky here!
Did a friend forward EarthSkyNews to you? Click here to get your own subscription!
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Instagram
Website

No comments:

Post a Comment