black hole swallowing asteroids at galaxy centre
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

NASA discovers Milky Way wonder

Black hole swallowing asteroids at galaxy centre

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today Black hole swallowing asteroids at galaxy centre

Caption
London - Arabstoday

Caption The giant black hole at the centre of the Milky Way may be devouring asteroids, creating flares that can be observed from Earth around once a day. Nasa scientists detected X-ray flares from the supermassive black hole known as Sagittarius A* - the flares last a few hours, and can be 100 times brighter than the black hole's normal energy output.
The black hole is surrounded by a cloud of trillions of asteroids and comets, say the scientists - and asteroids passing within 100 million miles of Sagittarius A*, the distance between Earth and the sun, will be pulled in and vapourised.
'People have had doubts about whether asteroids could form at all in the harsh environment near a supermassive black hole,' said Kastytis Zubovas of the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. 'Our study suggests that a huge number of them are needed to produce these flares.'
'An asteroid’s orbit can change if it ventures too close to a star or planet near Sgr A*,' said co-author Sergei Nayakshin, also of the University of Leicester. 'If it’s thrown toward the black hole, it’s doomed.'
The flares - which have also been detected in infrared by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile - are thought to be created by space rocks above twelve miles in diameter.
The black hole may also be 'eating' smaller rocks, but the flares would be more difficult to spot.
Asteroids passing too close to the black hole - a huge object with a mass estimated to be at least half a million Suns - would be vaporized by friction as they pass through the hot, thin gas flowing into Sgr A*, similar to a meteor heating up and glowing as it falls through Earth’s atmosphere.
A flare is produced as the asteroid is swallowed eventually by the black hole.
Zubovas and his colleagues suggest there is a cloud around Sgr A* containing trillions of asteroids and comets, stripped from their parent stars.
These results agree with theories of how many asteroids are likely to be in this region, assuming that the number around stars near Earth is similar to the number surrounding stars near the center of the Milky Way.
'As a reality check, we worked out that a few trillion asteroids should have been removed by the black hole over the 10-billion-year lifetime of the galaxy,' said co-author Sera Markoff of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. 'Only a small fraction of the total would have been consumed, so the supply of asteroids would hardly be depleted.'
Planets thrown into orbits too close to Sgr A* also should be disrupted by tidal forces, although this would happen much less frequently than the disruption of asteroids, because planets are not as common.
Such a scenario may have been responsible for a previous X-ray brightening of Sgr A* by about a factor of a million about a century ago. While this event happened many decades before X-ray telescopes existed, Chandra and other X-ray missions have seen evidence of an X-ray 'light echo' reflecting off nearby clouds, providing a measure of the brightness and timing of the flare.
“This would be a sudden end to the planet’s life, a much more dramatic fate than the planets in our solar system ever will experience,”

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

black hole swallowing asteroids at galaxy centre black hole swallowing asteroids at galaxy centre

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

black hole swallowing asteroids at galaxy centre black hole swallowing asteroids at galaxy centre

 



GMT 21:16 2016 Monday ,27 June

Zaki Badr discusses cleaning problem in Giza

GMT 21:46 2017 Saturday ,14 January

Turkey arrests 60 businessmen for alleged Gulen ties

GMT 22:38 2017 Friday ,24 March

Abbas meets with Merkel in Berlin

GMT 09:02 2017 Monday ,27 March

Tunisian Premier Concludes Visit to Sudan

GMT 15:54 2017 Friday ,01 September

Attorney General Directs Prosecutors to inspect Prison

GMT 09:22 2017 Sunday ,31 December

HM King condoles with Afghanistan President

GMT 10:12 2016 Wednesday ,06 April

Strong dollar, mild weather shrink H&M profits

GMT 17:03 2016 Saturday ,24 December

7 police killed in attacks in Afghansitan

GMT 13:51 2017 Friday ,17 March

Israel denies Syria shot down a warplane

GMT 04:08 2017 Thursday ,05 January

Carbon tax can fund clean energy transition

GMT 19:27 2016 Wednesday ,14 September

Alstom to go ahead with plans to shut down Belfort plant
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday