black hole shreds star, sparking gamma ray flash | the raw story

8/6/2019 Black Hole Shreds Star, Sparking Gamma Ray Flash | the Raw Story

1/8

8

Black hole shreds star, sparking gamma ray flash

Recommend 49 people recommend this. Be the first of your friends.

By ReutersMonday, June 20th, 2011 -- 7:47 am

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A monster black hole shredded a

Sun-like star, producing a strangely long-lasting flash of gamma

rays that probably won't be seen again in a million years,

astronomers reported on Thursday.

That is definitely not the norm for gamma ray bursts, energetic

blasts that typically flare up and end in a matter of seconds or

milliseconds, often the sign of the death throes of a collapsing

star.

"This is truly different from any explosive event we have seen

before," said Joshua Bloom of the University of California-

Berkeley, a co-author of research on the blast published in the

journal Science.

Initially spied on March 28 by NASA's Swift spacecraft, which is trolling the universe for gamma ray bursts,

this particular flash has lasted more than two months and is still going on, Bloom said in a telephone

interview.

What makes this even stranger is that the black hole, located in the constellation Draco (The Dragon)

about 4 billion light years, or 24 sextillion miles (38.62 sextillion km) -- 24 followed by 21 zeroes -- from

Earth, was sitting quietly, not eating much, when a star about the mass of our Sun moved into range.

"We have this otherwise dormant black hole, not gobbling up an appreciable amount of mass, and along

comes this star which just happens to be on some orbit which puts it close to the black hole," Bloom said.

FEEDING FRENZY

"This was a black hole which was otherwise quiescent and it sort of has an impulsive feeding frenzy onthis one star," he said.

Bloom figures this may happen once per black hole

per million years.

This kind of behavior is different from what active

black holes generally do, which is to suck in

everything their vast gravity can pull in, even light.

Most galaxies, including our Milky Way, are thought to

harbor black holes in their hearts.

Black holes are invisible, but astronomers can infer

their existence because the material they pull in lights

up before it gets sucked in.

In this case, though, the black hole feasted on one star -- about the same mass as our Sun -- with such

relish that it tore the star apart before gulping it down. As it did so, the black hole emitted powerful gamma

ray jets from its center as bits of the dying star were turned into energy.

The black hole's gravitational pull was so great that it exerted what's called a tidal disruption on the

passing star.

Astronomers could use this observation to help them learn more about how black holes grow, Bloom said.

"We still don't understand how black holes and the universe grow," he said. "We think most black holes

start off as being no more than the mass of our Sun ... How they go from 10 solar masses to a billion solar

masses is critical."

There is a strong connection between the mass of black holes and the mass of the galaxies that host

them, with black holes feeding on gas and stars that come near.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

0000 0066 3388 2233


2/8

Additional links from Reuters US Online Report Science News

Reuters services for news professionals

Reuters Pic tures - Search, select, buy

Share your news photos and videos with Reuters and Yahoo!

Reuters Reporter Blogs

Mochila insert follows.

Black hole shreds star, sparking gamma ray flash

Deborah Zabarenko

Reuters US Online Report Science News

Jun 20, 2011 07:31 EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A monster black hole shredded a Sun-like star, producing a s trangely long-lasting flash

of gamma rays that probably won't be seen again in a million years, astronomers reported on Thursday.

That is definitely not the norm for gamma ray bursts,

energetic blasts that typically flare up and end in a matter of

seconds or milliseconds, often the sign of the death throes ofa collapsing star.

"This is truly different from any explosive event we have seen

before," said Joshua Bloom of the University of California-

Berkeley, a co-author of research on the blast published in the

journal Science.

Initially spied on March 28 by NASA's Swift spacecraft, which

is trolling the universe for gamma ray bursts, this particular

flash has lasted more than two months and is still going on,

Bloom said in a telephone interview.

What makes this even stranger is that t he black hole, located in the constellation Draco (The Dragon) about 4 billion

light years, or 24 sextillion miles (38.62 sextillion km) -- 24 followed by 21 zeroes -- from Earth, was sitting quietly,

not eating much, when a star about the mass of our Sun moved into range.

"We have this otherwise dormant black hole, not gobbling up an appreciable amount of mass, and along comes this

star which just happens to be on some orbit which puts it close to the black hole," Bloom said.

FEEDING FRENZY

"This was a black hole which was otherwise quiescent and it sort of has an impulsive feeding frenzy on this one

star," he said.

Bloom figures this may happen once per black hole per million years.

This kind of behavior is different from what active black holes generally do, which is to suck in everything their vast

gravity can pull in, even light. Most galaxies, including our Milky Way, are thought to harbor black holes in their

hearts.

Black holes are invisible, but astronomers can infer their existence because the material they pull in lights up before

it gets sucked in.

In this case, though, the black hole feasted on one star -- about the same mass as our Sun -- with such relish that

it tore the star apart before gulping it down. As it did so, the black hole emitted powerful gamma ray jets from its

center as bits of the dying s tar were turned into energy.

The black hole's gravitational pull was so great that it exerted what's called a tidal disruption on the passing star.

Astronomers could use this observation to help them learn more about how black holes grow, Bloom said.

"We still don't understand how black holes and the universe grow," he said. "We think most black holes start off as

being no more than the mass of our Sun ... How they go from 10 solar masses to a billion solar masses is critical."

There is a strong connection between the mass of black holes and the mass of the galaxies that host them, with

black holes feeding on gas and s tars that come near.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source:Reuters US Online Report Science News

Powered by Mochila


3/8

8

Like

Logout

For more videos, check out RawReplay >>

You might like:

[?]

Add New Comment

tk422(edit profile)

86 comments 412 likes received

Showing 9 comments

Sort by Newest first Subscribe by email Subscribe by RSS

Very very cool. The personification language is fun but cursory: "Most galaxies...are thought to harbor black holes in their

hearts" -- ooo, galaxies thought to be good are harboring evil hungry black holes in their hearts....and you never know when

they might get hungry! Chomp chomp.

Couldn't the reason that it takes awhil e to "consume" this star is that its capacity for matter isn't as great as other more

"ravenous" black holes and so the "meal" takes longer to "digest"?

Like

Share this story >>

Stewart tells

Chris Wallace

that Fox News is

like ideological

regimes

(The Raw Story)

Police: Sex

offender dies

while raping

elderly woman

(The Raw Story)

How Magic

Mushrooms Can

Improve Your

Life in the Long-

Term

(AlterNet)

8 Germiest

Public Places

(Lifescript.com)

In the Near

Future, Price of

Food Will

Drastically

Increase

(YumSugar)

Post as tk422Image

RawReader 30 minutes ago

Reply

RobertHe 37 minutes ago

Paid Distribution Paid Distribution


4/8

Follow Us!

This is a repackaging of an Agence France-Presse article Raw Story ran last week. Unless there is someone on the staff

who is very enthusiastic about gamma ray bursts I see no reason running it again. However, I acknowledge that the science

writing is considerably better this time.

Like

It's that damn koch kartel gobbling up anything they can. They're not satisfied with just the earth, now they're going after

stars. What was that? It's a blackhole? Never mind: It's that damn Obama sucking the life out of stars. Okay. Got it now. See

how easy science is?

Like

It's fun to "Muse" about such things.

(not-so-veiled pun on band name and song "Super-Masive Black Hole")

Like

I'm wondering of a black hole is a conduit to an alternate universe of some sort. It's amazing that whatever gets sucked into

it disappears into some other void. What is on the other side of a black hole? Hmm.......

Like

That's a valid question, there is still a lot unknown about black holes because they require both quantum mechanics

and relativity to characterize properly, and unifying these two is still an unsolved problem. That's why black hole

people are usuall y also Grand Unified Theory people, since you can't solve the one without the other. A lot of people

have noticed the interesting symmetries between black holes and the Big Bang, almost as if they were two aspects of

the same thing...

Because of the way black holes affect the spacetime around them, it's quite a challenge to come up with a way to

explain things that isn't confusing to a layman. There just aren't any everyday experiences that you can use as

analogies, it's very frustrating. I'm sure it would be quite a trip to see this event, but I'm glad I'm not there actually.

Like

What makes you assume that black holes even have another side?

3 people liked this. Like

A black hole is described as a region of space with particular properties. Since all known regions of space have

more than two dimensions, we can safely conclude it has another side.

1 person liked this. Like

No, we can't safely conclude that black holes have another side because we have no conclusive proof.

Like

blog comments powered by DISQUS

Reply

Jammer5 51 minutes ago

Reply

Cussin' Jack 1 hour ago

Reply

moxaman 3 hours ago

Reply

seePlusPlus 6 minutes ago

Reply

BillFromDover 3 hours ago

Reply

H.P. Loathecraft 1 hour ago

Reply

red_velvet27 1 hour ago

Reply


5/8

Instaflex.comAds by Google

Grand Cherokee vs

Yukon

Compare the Grand

Cherokee to the GMC

Yukon. Learn More!www.GMC.com/Yukon

Compare to

EscaladeInterested in a Luxury

SUV? Then Check Out

the Escalade.www.Cadillac.com/Escalade

Adobe Govt

SolutionsLearn About the Tech

Opportunities of Open

Govt. Read

Whitepaper Now.www.Adobe.com/Government

2012: Is the End

Near?What will happen in

2012? Learn the truth.

Watch Video!www.worldtocome.org

2012 GOPCandidates

Launch Your Online

Campaign with The

Campaign Website

you Need!www.NetBoots.net

Most Commented

Lebanon gets Hezbollah-led

cabinet after 5-month lag

Group: Boehner broke the law

by spending $500,000 to

defend DOMA

Olive oil could lower stroke

risk: study

Syria's Assad vows change but

not under 'chaos'

US citizen among Mexico

hidden grave victims

Most Read


6/8

Raw Investigations

Olbermann: New show looks to

reclaim independence of T V

news

Where to from here?: AIDS

anniversary prompts

speculation about the future

Is the focus on HIV treatment

distracting from the search for

a cure?

Exclusive: Mishandled VA rape

cases deemed shocking by

lawyers in Pentagon suit

Exclusive: Christians must

reject Ayn Rand, faith-based

group tells Raw Story

Denver Metro News

[Sponsor] $9 Car Insurance

DAM Updates an Age-Old Medium in NewSummer Exhibition

ICE announces reforms to controversialSecure Commnities program

Use common courtesy in dealing withdisabled

Search in Denver Metro

Change City More Headlines

A Message From KeithOlbermann


7/8

Countdown with KeithOlbermann, the much-anticipated week-nightly

commentary show featuring thereturn of one of journalismsmost outspoken voices, willreturn on independently-ownedCurrent TV on Monday, June20 at 8/7c.

For the Countdown interactiveexperience, visitCurrent.com/Countdown

Tweet this!

Buy a Blogad!

blog advertising is good for you


8/8

black hole shreds star, sparking gamma ray flash | the raw story

Documents