 |
|
UI researchers discover star orbiting a 'medium-sized' black hole
January 06, 2006University of Iowa researchers have found a star orbiting a "medium-sized" black hole - about 1,000 times more massive than the sun - in the nearby starburst galaxy M82, a development that may help explain how medium-sized black holes form and evolve, according to a paper to be published in the Jan. 5 issue of Science Express, the online version of the journal Science.
Philip Kaaret, associate professor in the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of Physics and Astronomy, made the discovery indirectly, by detecting modulations in X-rays produced by the black hole. His associates in the work were assistant professor Cornelia Lang and student Melanie Simet, a senior from Cedar Falls, Iowa.
"We discovered that the X-rays from the black hole get repeatedly brighter and dimmer every 62 days," he said. "This told us that the companion star orbiting around the black hole makes one orbit every 62 days. This, in turn, told us that the companion star has to be a giant star - a phase in the evolution of a star when it becomes extremely bloated."
Kaaret said that the discovery may help confirm the existence of a class of black holes having a mass between 100 and 10,000 times that of the sun. That would make the objects larger than black holes produced by the collapse of a single normal star and smaller than the supermassive black holes found at the centers of galaxies.
"The discovery also explains why this black hole is so bright in X-rays. It's because the black hole can pull gas directly off from the outer layers of the giant star," Kaaret said.
The UI researchers, who used an x-ray telescope called the "Proportional Counter Array on NASA's Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer," note that their discovery will await validation by new observations to be made with the Proportional Counter Array and other X-ray telescopes.
"This first discovery proves our technique, and we hope to make more discoveries with new X-ray observations of other black holes," Kaaret said.
University of Iowa
Kaaret said that the discovery may help confirm the existence of a class of black holes having a mass between 100 and 10,000 times that of the sun. That would make the objects larger than black holes produced by the collapse of a single normal star and smaller than the supermassive black holes found at the centers of galaxies.
"The discovery also explains why this black hole is so bright in X-rays. It's because the black hole can pull gas directly off from the outer layers of the giant star," Kaaret said.
The UI researchers, who used an x-ray telescope called the "Proportional Counter Array on NASA's Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer," note that their discovery will await validation by new observations to be made with the Proportional Counter Array and other X-ray telescopes.
"This first discovery proves our technique, and we hope to make more discoveries with new X-ray observations of other black holes," Kaaret said.
University of Iowa
Black Hole Current Events and Black Hole News RSSSwift XMM-Newton Satellites Tune Into a Middleweight Black Hole
While astronomers have studied lightweight and heavyweight black holes for decades, the evidence for black holes with intermediate masses has been much harder to come by.
New vista of Milky Way center unveiled
A dramatic new vista of the center of the Milky Way galaxy from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory exposes new levels of the complexity and intrigue in the Galactic center.
Invading black holes explain cosmic flashes
Black holes are invading stars, providing a radical explanation to bright flashes in the universe that are one of the biggest mysteries in astronomy today.
Sophisticated telescope camera debuts with peek at nest of black holes
Less than two months after they inaugurated the world's largest telescope, University of Florida astronomers have used one of the world's most advanced telescopic instruments to gather images of the heavens.
NGC 4945: The Milky Way's not-so-distant Cousin
ESO has released a striking new image of a nearby galaxy that many astronomers think closely resembles our own Milky Way.
First Black Holes Born Starving
The first black holes in the universe had dramatic effects on their surroundings despite the fact that they were small and grew very slowly, according to recent supercomputer simulations carried out by astrophysicists Marcelo Alvarez and Tom Abel of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, jointly located at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University, and John Wise, formerly of KIPAC and now of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
First black holes kept to a strict diet, study shows
A new supercomputer simulation designed to track the fate of the universe's first black holes finds that, counter to expectations, they couldn't efficiently gorge themselves on nearby gas.
Goddard-Led GEMS Mission to Explore the Polarized Universe
An exciting new astrophysics mission led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., will provide a revolutionary window into the universe. Named the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism Small Explorer (GEMS), the satellite will be the first to systematically measure the polarization of cosmic X-ray sources.
Turbulence responsible for black holes' balancing act
We live in a hierarchical Universe where small structures join into larger ones. Earth is a planet in our Solar System, the Solar System resides in the Milky Way Galaxy, and galaxies combine into groups and clusters.
NASA's Fermi Finds Gamma-ray Galaxy Surprises
Back in June 1991, just before the launch of NASA's Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, astronomers knew of gamma rays from exactly one galaxy beyond our own.
More Black Hole Current Events and Black Hole News Articles
 |
Black Hole by Charles Burns (Author) Winner of the Eisner, Harvey, and Ignatz Awards The setting: suburban Seattle, the mid-1970s. We learn from the outset that a strange plague has descended upon the area’s teenagers, transmitted by sexual contact. The disease is manifested in any number of ways — from the hideously grotesque to the subtle (and concealable) — but once you’ve got it, that’s it. There’s no turning back. As we inhabit the heads of several key characters — some kids who have it, some who don’t, some who are about to get it — what unfolds isn’t the expected battle to fight the plague, or bring heightened awareness to it , or even to treat it. What we become witness to instead is a fascinating and eerie portrait of the nature of high school alienation itself — the savagery,... |
 |
The Black Hole Starring: Ernest Borgnine, Joseph Bottoms, Robert Forster, Roddy McDowall, Tommy McLoughlin Also With: Anthony Perkins (Primary Contributor), Maximilian Schell (Primary Contributor) THE CREW OF THE SPACESHIP PALAMINO STUMBLES ACROSS THE LOST SHIP USS CYGNUS HOVERING ON THE EDGE OF AN IMMENSE BLACK HOLE. ONCE ABOARD THEY FIND THE SHIP IS MANNED BY ROBOTS ITS ONLY HUMAN INHABITANT ONE DR HANS REINHARDT AN EMINENT SCIENTIST MISSING FOR THE PAST TWENTY YEARS. |
 |
Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries by Neil deGrasse Tyson (Author) “One of today’s best popularizers of science.”—Kirkus Reviews Loyal readers of the monthly “Universe” essays in Natural History magazine have long recognized Neil deGrasse Tyson’s talent for guiding them through the mysteries of the cosmos with stunning clarity and childlike enthusiasm. Here Tyson compiles his favorite essays across a myriad of cosmic topics. The title essay introduces readers to the physics of black holes by explaining just what would happen to your body if you fell into one, while “Hollywood Nights” assails Hollywood’s feeble efforts to get its night skies right. Tyson is the world’s ... |
 |
The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics by Leonard Susskind (Author) At the beginning of the 21st century, physics is being driven to very unfamiliar territory--the domain of the incredibly small and the incredibly heavy. The new world is a world in which both quantum mechanics and gravity are equally important. But mysteries remain. One of the biggest involved black holes. Famed physicist Stephen Hawking claimed that anything sucked in a black hole was lost forever. For three decades, Leonard Susskind and Hawking clashed over the answer to this problem. Finally, in 2004, Hawking conceded. THE BLACK HOLE WAR will explain the mind-blowing science that finally won out, and the emergence of a new paradigm that argues the world--this catalog, your home, your breakfast, you--is actually a hologram projected from the edges of... |
 |
The Black Hole Starring: Kristy Swanson; Judd Nelson; David Selby; Heather Dawn; Robert Giardina; Jennifer Lyn Quackenbush; Christa Campbell; Julia Sinks; Peter Mayer; James Anthony; Kevin Beyer; Dan Buran; Tim Snay; Adrian Rice; Greg Carr; Chris Nolte; Rick Tamblyn; Ermal Williamson; Rod Bernsen; Susan Wood Directed By: Tibor Takács A high-voltage sci-fi thriller loaded with explosive battles and gripping special effects. DVD Features include: Exploring The Black Hole: A Behind the Scenes Featurette with the Cast and Crew. |
 |
Black Holes: And Other Bizarre Space Objects (Science Frontiers) by David Jefferis (Author) |
 |
Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy (Commonwealth Fund Book Program) by Kip S. Thorne (Author), Stephen Hawking (Foreword) In this masterfully written and brilliantly informed work, Dr. Thorne, the Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics at Caltech, leads readers through an elegant, always human, tapestry of interlocking themes, answering the great question: what principles control our universe and why do physicists think they know what they know? Features an introduction by Stephen Hawking. |
 |
National Geographic: Monster Black Holes Starring: Michael Carroll Travel to the edge of space and beyond to discover natures ultimate abyss black holes. Explore where they are found, how they begin, and how it may be possible to harness and use the power they produce. In Monster Black Holes, scientists steadily piece together the complex dynamics of a black holes birth and are also examine the growth of a select few black holes to super massive proportions that dominate the centers of galaxies. As a monster black hole swallows everything in its path, it generates energy that shapes the universe around it in powerful ways. Journey into the heart of a black hole and explore what happens to matter when it falls into a black hole, and whether the Milky Way galaxy will one day come to an end when the black hole at the galaxys center explodes. |
 |
Mysterious Universe: Supernovae, Dark Energy, and Black Holes (Scientists in the Field Series) by Ellen Jackson (Author), Nic Bishop (Photographer) The universe is rapidly expanding. Of that much scientists are certain. But how fast? And with what implications regarding the fate of the universe? Ellen Jackson and Nic Bishop follow Dr. Alex Fillippenko and his High-Z Supernova Search Team to Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, where they will study space phenomena and look for supernovae, dying stars that explode with the power of billions of hydrogen bombs. Dr. Fillippenko looks for black holes--areas in space with such a strong gravitational pull that no matter or energy can escape from them--with his robotic telescope. And they study the effects of dark energy, the mysterious force that scientists believe is pushing the universe apart, causing its constant and accelerating expansion. |
 |
The Black Hole (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) Composed and conducted by John Barry (Performer) This is the 1979 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack of "The Black Hole", With music composed and conducted by John Barry. A digital recording, this Buena Vista record number 5008 (from Walt Disney Productions) was produced by John Barry and Engineered by Danny Wallin. The Black Hole motion picture starred Maximillian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms, Yvette Mimieux and Ernest Borgnine. The movie was produced by Ron Miller and directed by Gary Nelson. The screenplay was by Jeb Rosebrook and Gerry Day from a story by Jeb Rosebrook and Bob Barbash & Richard Landau. |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |