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Blackholes: Related Pages.Click here to visit the main page on, Black hole.
The existence of black holes in the universe is well supported by astronomical observation, particularly from studying X-ray emission from X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei.
Black Hole Gulps Down a Neutron Star Dec 15, 2005 - An international team of astronomers have analyzed a recent short gamma-ray burst, and they think it's the last scream of a neutron star being gobbled up by a black hole. The burst was discovered on July 24, 2005 by NASA's Swift satellite, and then astronomers performed followup observations with a variety of instruments. The length of the explosion and the wavelengths of radiation emitted have led astronomers to the conclusion that it had to be a neutron star colliding with a black hole. That Neutron Star Should Be a Black Hole Nov 2, 2005 - Astronomers were expecting that a massive star in the Westerlund 1 star cluster should have collapsed into a black hole. Instead, it became a neutron star. Since this star was 40 times the mass of the Sun before it collapsed, it should have been a prime black hole candidate. So why did it end up as a neutron star? It's possible that the star blew off most of its mass at the end of its life, so there just wasn't enough material to form a black hole. Oct 17, 2005 - Near-infrared images of galaxy NGC 1097 show incredible detail of the filamentary structure of matter swirling down to the supermassive black hole lurking at its centre. NGC 1097 is located about 45 million light-years away in the southern constellation Fornax. Astronomers used a special instrument on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope which masks the light from stars in the galaxy, revealing fainter material. The way this material winds as it nears the centre of the galaxy indicates the mass of the supermassive black hole. Black Holes Can't Hide Forever Oct 3, 2005 - The pull of gravity from a black hole is so strong that nothing, not even light can escape it. But that doesn't mean they can't be seen indirectly. Matter can pile up around a black hole and heat up, giving off a tremendous amount of radiation. Better techniques and instruments should bring astronomers right to the edge of the monstrous black hole at the heart of the Milky Way. A continental array of submillimeter telescopes is in the works that will reveal the shadow cast by a black hole on its surrounding material. Rogue Supermassive Black Hole Has No Galaxy Sep 15, 2005 - The Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a supermassive black hole without a surrounding galaxy. These black holes and their galaxies are usually linked, so it's an unusual discovery. One possibility is that the host galaxy was stripped away during a collision with another galaxy. Another possibility is that the black hole is surrounded by a large amount of material, it's just dark matter, so Hubble couldn't detect it. Aug 19, 2005 - NASA's Swift satellite has found brand new baby black holes, just seconds after birth. These newborn black holes are created at the heart of massive star explosions, called gamma ray bursts, and actually generate multiple blasts over the next few minutes. Nearly half of the gamma ray bursts seen by Swift follow a similar model, where there's an initial release of gamma rays, and then followed by several X-ray after-explosions as matter falling into the new black hole clogs up and releases more energy. Which Came First Galaxies or Black Holes Jun 17, 2005 - Which came first, galaxies or the supermassive black holes at their centre? Most cosmologists now think the two are inextricably linked, each depending on the other. And according to researchers, including famed astronomer Sir Martin J Rees, these supermassive black holes got big, fast. By reviewing quasar data in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the team has calculated that many supermassive black holes had reached 1 billion times the mass of our Sun in a very short period of time. Even for the largest, most voracious black holes in the Universe, that's an amazing feat. Twin Black Holes Churn at the Heart of M83 May 18, 2005 - Most galaxies, like cells in the body, have only a single nucleus in their midst - but a few have more. Now a team of astronomical sleuths from Argentina have used some advanced observational and software analysis methods to determine that 15MLY distant M83 is one of the few. Could the unique gravitational effects of having two such mass concentrations (SMBHs?) account for the numerous massive super-cluster star-formation regions associated with this 30-thousand light year diameter grand spiral galaxy? The Birth of a New Black Hole? May 11, 2005 - Monday's gamma ray burst might have been just what astronomers have been hoping to see for decades - the birth of a new black hole. GRB 050509B was a short gamma ray burst, lasting only 50 milliseconds, which means it could be the result of a collision between two neutron stars, or even two black holes. NASA's Swift observatory detected the explosion, tracked its location, and focused its large telescope within a minute of its occurrence. Matter is Incinerated When it Falls into a Black Hole Apr 15, 2005 - Here's a relief. Instead of being painfully stretched (aka spaghettified) by the immense tidal forces around a black hole, you'd probably just be roasted by the intense heat. Professor Andrew Hamilton at the University of Colorado predicts that only the smallest black holes would actually stretch you out like this. All the larger, supermassive black holes are already choking on enough material, that their surrounding environment is a superhot plasma heated to millions of degrees and blasting out intense radiation. Early Universe Swarmed with Mini Black Holes Apr 15, 2005 - Famed astronomer Sir Martin Rees, and a team of astronomers from Cambridge in UK believe that the early universe swarmed with miniature black holes. They believe that these smaller objects formed early and then merged together over time to create the supermassive black holes that now lurk at the centres of galaxies. Recent observations of the cosmic microwave background radiation shows that the Universe warmed up when the it was 400,000 years old, which could have been because of matter heating up around these mini black holes. Chandra Finds a Medium Mass Black Hole Mar 22, 2005 - The Chandra X-Ray Observatory has spotted strange outbursts of radiation that could be coming from a rare, intermediate-mass black hole. Astronomers have spotted stellar black holes with approximately 10 times the mass of our Sun, and supermassive black holes, with billions of times the mass of our Sun... but not many are in between. This new object, located in galaxy M74, seems to be approximately 10,000 times the mass of our Sun based on the amount of radiation it's generating. Black Holes Could Contain a Perfect Fluid Mar 21, 2005 - Black holes continue to defy comprehension as some of the most extreme places in the Universe, but could they also contain its most perfect fluids. Researchers at the University of Washington have calculated that the material in a black hole should have an ultra-low viscosity - 400 times less than water. A black hole's temperature should be 2 trillion degrees Celsius; an extreme temperature where matter breaks apart completely into a soup of subatomic particles. Black Holes Might Obscure Earliest Times Mar 10, 2005 - Astrophysicists from Penn State University are concerned that the light bending effects of gravity around black holes might be so severe that early times in the Universe might be impossible to study. Gravitational lenses, where the gravity of one galaxy serves to focus the light from a more distant galaxy, have been used to study deeper into space than would normally be possible. But in the close vicinity of black holes, light is bent in unpredictable ways, completely obscuring the direction of the source. Region Around a Black Hole is Surprisingly Turbulent Mar 8, 2005 - The quaint view that black holes gobble up matter quickly and efficiently is being replaced with observations and simulations that show a tremendous amount of violence and turbulence. Like too much water trying to get down a drain, matter backs up and creates an environment unique in the Universe. A new simulation from Johns Hopkins University shows how matter around a black hole can take on relativistic speeds, extreme densities, intense magnetic fields, all the while blasting out torrents of energy. Matter Nears Light Speed Entering a Black Hole Feb 23, 2005 - Just before matter is gobbled up by a hungry black hole, it's hurtling around the monster at nearly the speed of light. This heats up the material and it can release a tremendous amount of energy as X-rays. Different elements release energy with a specific fingerprint that astronomers can detect. Researchers from Europe have measured iron as it hurtles around black holes and found a relativistic effect because it's moving so quickly. The team averaged out the X-ray light from 100 distant black holes to show the telltale signature of material about to be consumed by a black hole. Smallest Galactic Black Hole Found Feb 22, 2005 - Astronomers are finding supermassive black holes at the heart of nearly every galaxy they look at, and these monsters range in size depending on the size of their host galaxy. An international team of astronomers has turned up what seems to be the smallest supermassive black hole so far - only a million times the mass of our Sun - located at the centre of galaxy NGC 4395. Supermassive black holes can often be 100 times this mass, and NGC 4395 is one of a family of galaxies which tend to have very large black holes. Feb 16, 2005 - Researchers have used the Chandra X-Ray Observatory to understand just how large supermassive black holes can get by performing a very detailed census of the mysterious objects. These are the gigantic black holes, with millions of times the mass of our Sun, that sit at the centre of almost every galaxy. The largest of them reach 100 million solar masses and gained this weight early - then they ran out of material to consume. The smaller holes, between 10 and 100 million solar masses, have been more frugal with the gas and dust they consume, and continue to grow to this day. Swift Sees the Birth of a Black Hole Jan 21, 2005 - NASA's Swift space observatory has seen its first Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB), probably the birth of a black hole. Swift detected the explosion on January 17, and turned to face it within 200 seconds - enough time to watch the explosion with its X-Ray telescope. This is the first time an X-Ray observatory has ever watched a GRB while it was bursting, and not just the afterglow. Swift is still in its checkout phase, so its Ultraviolet/Optical telescope wasn't ready to image the GRB yet, but it should be ready by February 1. LISA Will Watch Snacking Black Holes Jan 18, 2005 - A new space observatory called the Laser Interferometer Space Antennae, or LISA, will help help astronomers watch black holes as they gorge on new matter, growing larger in the process. These binges are thought to cause gravitational waves, which are ripples in spacetime. LISA consists of three spacecraft separated by 4.8 million km (3 million miles) which keep track of their relative positions very carefully. As the gravitational waves pass, the spacecraft should move relative to each other, like boats floating on the ocean when a wave goes past. LISA should launch in 2008, and will hopefully detect several black hole events a year. Print Version Print This Article |
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