European astronomers have found the closest black hole to Earth yet, so near that the two stars dancing with it can be seen by the naked eye.
The trouble is we can’t see them. Nothing, not even light, escapes a black hole’s gravity. Usually, scientists can only spot them when they’re gobbling up sections of a partner star or something else falling into them. Astronomers think most black holes, including this newly discovered one, don’t have anything close enough to swallow. So they go undetected.Astronomers found this one because of the unusual orbit of a star.
These are young hot stars compared to our 4.6 billion-year-old sun. They’re maybe 140 million years old, but at 26,000 degrees F they are three times hotter than the sun, Rivinius said. About 15 million years ago, one of those stars got too big and too hot and went supernova, turning into the black hole in a violent process, he said.
“It is most likely that there are black holes much closer than this one,” said Avi Loeb, director of Harvard’s Black Hole Initiative, who wasn’t part of the study. “If you find an ant while scanning a tiny fraction of your kitchen, you know there must be many more out there.”
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
Similar News:Vous pouvez également lire des articles d'actualité similaires à celui-ci que nous avons collectés auprès d'autres sources d'information.
Astronomers find the closest black hole to Earth, 1,000 light-years awayAlthough the black hole itself is invisible, it has two bright companion stars that gave away the hiding spot of the black hole.
Lire la suite »
Closest black hole to Earth discovered 1,000 light-years awayThe closest black hole to Earth's solar system has been discovered by a team of astronomers who say it was hiding in plain sight only about 1,011 light-years away.
Lire la suite »
Closest black hole to Earth has two partnersThe triple system, called HR 6819, is perhaps three times closer than the previous closest-known black hole.
Lire la suite »
The closest black hole to Earth has been discovered by scientistsThe black hole forms part of a triple star system known as HR 6819, which can be seen without binoculars or telescopes from the southern hemisphere on a dark, clear night.
Lire la suite »
The Best Eyebrow Pencils on EarthNo quaren-brows here.
Lire la suite »
Largest impact event in recorded history may have been an iron asteroid that never actually hit EarthThe explosion over Siberia—which has come to be known as the 'Tunguska event'—has long puzzled experts.
Lire la suite »