NASA | Massive Black Hole Shreds Passing Star
This artist’s rendering illustrates new findings about a star shredded by a black hole. When a star wanders too close to a black hole, intense tidal forces rip the star apart. In these events, called “tidal disruptions,” some of the stellar debris is flung outward at high speed while the rest falls toward the black hole. This causes a distinct X-ray flare that can last for a few years. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer, and ESA/NASA’s XMM-Newton collected different pieces of this astronomical puzzle in a tidal disruption event called ASASSN-14li, which was found in an optical search by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) in November 2014. The event occurred near a supermassive black hole estimated to weigh a few million times the mass of the sun in the center of PGC 043234, a galaxy that lies about 290 million light-years away. Astronomers hope to find more events like ASASSN-14li to test theoretical models about how black holes affect their environments.
During the tidal disruption event, filaments containing much of the star's mass fall toward the black hole. Eventually these gaseous filaments merge into a smooth, hot disk glowing brightly in X-rays. As the disk forms, its central region heats up tremendously, which drives a flow of material, called a wind, away from the disk.
Music credit: Encompass by Mark Petrie from Killer Tracks.
-
LIVE
Right Side Broadcasting Network
4 days agoLIVE REPLAY: President Trump Holds a Rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania - 9/23/24
8,533 watching -
3:11:25
The Quartering
4 hours agoTrump Rally Post Show, Kamala Harris Desperation, Diddy Mess Gets Worse & WW3
59.7K29 -
1:40:45
Fresh and Fit
4 hours agoHow To Make Money Streaming
42.2K21 -
1:37:28
Kim Iversen
7 hours agoNOT GUILTY: The Uhuru Three Are Cleared Of Being Russian Agents in Landmark Free Speech Case
62.9K31 -
We Like Shooting
14 hours agoWe Like Shooting 577 (Gun Podcast)
14.7K1 -
1:00:18
Flyover Conservatives
21 hours agoIs Kamala Harris China’s Trojan Horse for America’s Fall? - Trevor Loudon; The Economic Warning Signs You Can’t Ignore - Dr. Kirk Elliott | FOC Show
33.1K9 -
8:15
Colion Noir
5 hours agoKamala's Campaign Drops Bombshell About Her Shooting Intruders On Oprah
32.6K16 -
1:43:08
Glenn Greenwald
8 hours agoSecurity State Endorses Kamala; Zelensky & Shapiro Campaign in PA; New Israel/U.S. War With Professor Norman Finkelstein | SYSTEM UPDATE #339
93K83 -
1:14:08
Donald Trump Jr.
12 hours agoInside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs, Plus Why Woke is Going Broke,Interviews with Michael Seifert & Lue Elizondo | TRIGGERED Ep.176
133K112 -
54:53
The StoneZONE with Roger Stone
5 hours agoViolent Venezuelan Gangs Terrorizing Sanctuary City Neighborhoods - with Mark Vargas | The StoneZONE
47.8K16