2023-09-18 06:00:06
A star similar to our Sun is being devoured little by little by a black hole. Each time it passes close to the black hole, the star loses the equivalent of three Earth masses. This is what astronomers at the University of Leicester have discovered, filling a gap in our understanding of black holes and orbiting stars (Vacuum is commonly defined as the absence of matter in an area of space. In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the trajectory that a body draws in space…) around them.
Optical image of the galaxy (A galaxy is, in cosmology, an assembly of stars, gas, dust and…) where the new event took place.
Credit: Daniele B. Malesani / PanSTARRS
The event, named Swift J0230, was spotted by a bright flash of X-rays emanating from the center of the galaxy 2MASX J02301709+2836050, located about 500 million light-years from the Milky Way. The flash was detected by a new tool developed for the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.
Contrary to expectations, the flash did not fade. It glowed brightly for 7 to 10 days before suddenly dying out, then reappearing approximately every 25 days. This behavior is similar to so-called quasi-periodic flares and periodic transient signals. These phenomena occur when stars pass near black holes and lose part of their matter.
X-ray images of the same location in the sky before and after Swift J0230 erupted.
Credit: Phil Evans (University of Leicester) / NASA Swift
Dr. Phil Evans, lead author of the study, points out that this is the first time that a star like our Sun (The Sun (Sol in Latin, Helios or Ήλιος in Greek) is the star…) observed in a train (A train is a guided vehicle traveling on rails. A train is made up of…) to be repeatedly sketched by a black hole (In astrophysics, a black hole is a massive object whose gravitational field is so intense…) of “low” mass (The term mass is used to designate two quantities attached to one…). The black hole in question is estimated to have between 10,000 to 100,000 times the mass of our Sun, which is relatively small for a supermassive black hole (In astrophysics, a supermassive black hole is a black hole whose mass is around one million…).
A black hole in a distant galaxy devouring an orbiting star.
Crédit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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