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Scientists Catch A Black Hole Munching On A Giant Planet
- Published_at:2013-04-03
- Category:News & Politics
- Channel:cuz4concern
- tags:
- description: Scientists observing a distant galaxy catch a black hole in the middle of destroying a planet larger than Jupiter. Like virtually every other galaxy in the universe, the Galaxy NGC 4845 has a central black hole. For the past few decades, though, that black hole has lay pretty dormant, without giving much sign it was there. That changed recently, however, when scientists caught the black hole the in process of eating a little snack. "Little" in this case being a planet larger than Jupiter. Astronomers Measure How Fast A Supermassive Black Hole Spins Alex KnappAlex Knapp Forbes Staff Scientists Detect Star Being Devoured By Supermassive Black Hole Alex KnappAlex Knapp Forbes Staff "The observation was completely unexpected, from a galaxy that has been quiet for at least 20--30 years," said lead researcher Marek Nikolajuk in a press release. So unexpected, in fact, that astronomers weren't even looking at the Galaxy when they were doing their research. They were using the ESA's Integral system to observe an entirely different galaxy. It just so happened that while they were doing so, NGC 4845 was in their field of view. So when they noticed bright X-ray flares coming from the galaxy, they quickly turned their attention. In doing so, they were able to catch this rare astronomical event. When something is pulled into a black hole, the heat and pressure of the event convert whatever it is -- whether star or planet -- into high energy gasses. As the gasses are absorbed by the black hole, the energy from those gasses is released as X-rays. So when the scientists noted those flares, they used the ESA's XMM-Newton, which is used bESA's XMM-Newtoray sources from across the universe. http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2013/04/03/scientist-catch-a-black-hole-munching-on-a-giant-planet/No copyright infringement intended
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| 2013-04-19 | 9,566 | 29 | 9 |
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