Black Hole Seen Ripping Star Apart

Myway News via Drudge ^ | Feb 18, 2:04 PM (ET) | ANDREW BRIDGES

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

By ANDREW BRIDGES

(AP) This an artist's Illustration of the RX J1242-11 system depicting how the catastrophic destruction...
Full Image

 

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Two space observatories have provided the first strong evidence of a supermassive black hole stretching, tearing apart and partially gobbling up a star flung into reach of its enormous gravity, astronomers said Wednesday.

The event had long been predicted by theory but never confirmed.

A powerful X-ray blast drew the attention of astronomers to the event, located near the center of a galaxy about 700 million light-years from Earth. The international team of astronomers believe gases from the star, heated to multimillion-degree temperatures as they fell toward the black hole near the heart of galaxy RX J1242-11, produced the blast.

Astronomers said a star about the size of our sun neared the black hole after veering off course following a close encounter with another star. The tremendous gravity of the black hole, estimated to have a mass 100 million times that of our sun, then stretched the star to the point of breaking.

"This is the ultimate David versus Goliath battle, but here David loses," said Gunther Hasinger, of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany.

The effect is the same that the tug of the moon has on the Earth's oceans, but with much more violent results. The black hole consumed an estimated 1 percent of the doomed star, flinging the rest out into space.

"This unlucky star just wandered into the wrong neighborhood," said Stefanie Komossa, also of the Max Planck Institute.

Astronomers used NASA's Chandra and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton X-ray observatories to capture the event. Similar events are estimated to occur just once every 10,000 years in a typical galaxy.

Astronomers have seen other similar X-ray blasts before, but never were able to pinpoint them at the center of a galaxy, where black holes lurk. The new observations also revealed the characteristic X-ray signature expected of the surroundings of a black hole.

The blast first was seen in 1992 and remains visible as it fades, said Chandra press scientist Peter Edmonds, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

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On the Net:

European Space Agency science program: http://sci.esa.int/xmm-newton/

Chandra observatory: http://chandra.harvard.edu

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Amazing!

[martin_fierro]

Pingawinga

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This an artist's Illustration of the RX J1242-11 system depicting how the catastrophic destruction of a star that wandered too close to a supermassive black hole may have occurred. A close encounter with another star put the doomed star (orange circle) on a path that took it near a supermassive black hole. The enormous gravity of the giant black hole stretched the star until it was torn apart. Because of the momentum and energy of the accretion process, only a few percent of the disrupted star's mass (indicated by the white stream) was swallowed by the black hole, while the rest of was flung away into the surrounding galaxy. (AP Photo/Credit: Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)

[stanz]

That is interesting!

[Bogey78O]

Hmmm...so will it end up back in time? ;)

[finnman69]

This an artist's Illustration of the Democratic Party depicting how the dearth of ideas of a party that wandered too close to left wing socialism may have occurred. A close encounter with another kook like Howard Dean put the doomed party (orange circle) on a path that took it near a superirrelevent and out of touch voter base. The enormous gravity of the LW voter base stretched the party until it was torn apart. Because of the momentum and energy of the Anyone But Bush movement, only a few percent of the disrupted party's direction (indicated by the white stream) was swallowed by the LW voter base, while the rest of was flung away into the Green Party. (AP Photo/Credit: Illustration: RNC,K.Rove)

[kidd]

Black Hole Seen Ripping Star Apart

...and the Black Hole has been named Jason-Timberlake...

[Starrgaizr]

[50sDad]

This happened 700 MILLION Years ago, and Bush has done NOTHING to STOP IT!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

More good detail here:

RX J1242-11:
Giant Black Hole Rips Star Apart

X-ray data from Chandra, the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton, and the German Roengtensatellite (ROSAT) X-ray observatories provide direct evidence for the catastrophic destruction of a star that wandered too close to a supermassive black hole.

The accompanying illustration (top) depicts how such an event may have occurred. A close encounter with another star put the doomed star (orange circle) on a path that took it near a supermassive black hole. The enormous gravity of the giant black hole stretched the star until it was torn apart. Because of the momentum and energy of the accretion process, only a few percent of the disrupted star's mass (indicated by the white stream) was swallowed by the black hole, while the rest of was flung away into the surrounding galaxy.

Star Ripped Apart by Giant Black Hole

Observations with Chandra (lower left image) and XMM-Newton, combined with earlier images from ROSAT, confirmed that a powerful X-ray outburst had occurred in the center of the galaxy RX J1242-11, which appears normal in a ground-based optical image (lower right, with the white circle defining the location of the Chandra image). This X-ray outburst, one of the most powerful ever detected in a galaxy, was caused when gas from the disrupted star was heated to multimillion degree temperatures as it fell toward the black hole.

Illustration of RX J1242-11

The force that disrupted the star in RX J1242-11 is an extreme example of the tidal force caused by differences in gravity acting on the front and back of an object. The tidal force from the Moon causes tides in the oceans on Earth, and tidal force from Jupiter pulled Comet Shoemaker-Levy apart before it plunged into the giant planet.

The tidal disruption of a star is estimated to occur about once every ten thousand years in a typical galaxy. As astronomers accumulate observations of thousands of galaxies, many more of these events should be detected.

Fast Facts for RX J1242-11:
Credit	Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss; X-ray: NASA/CXC/MPE/S.Komossa et al.; Optical: ESO/MPE/S.Komossa
Scale	Bottom panels are 25 arcsec per side
Category	Black Holes
Coordinates (J2000)	RA 12h 42m 36.90s | Dec -11º 19' 35.00"
Constellation	Virgo
Observation Date	March 09, 2001
Observation Time	1.25 hrs
Obs. ID	1559
Color Code	Intensity
Instrument	ACIS
Reference	S. Komossa et al.2004, March 1 Astrophys. J. Letters
Distance Estimate	About 700 million light years (redshift z = 0.05)
Release Date	February 18, 2004

More Information on RX J1242-11:

Press Room: RX J1242-11 Press Release
More Images of RX J1242-11
RX J1242-11 Animations
RX J1242-11 Handout: html | pdf
RX J1242-11 Press Kit
Powerpoint and PDF
Chandra Chronicles: The Nature of Tidal Forces

Related Chandra Images:

Photo Album: NGC 6240 (19 Nov 02)

More Information on Black Holes:

X-ray Astronomy Field Guide: Black Holes
Questions and Answers: Black Holes
Chandra Images: Black Holes

Chandra Images: ' 04 | ' 03 | ' 02 | ' 01 | ' 00 | ' 99 | Images by Category

Go to the link for images.

[dware]

Beautiful.

[Squawk 8888]

Okay, someone had to say this.

All your stellar mass are belong to us.

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[N. Theknow]

Sheila Jackson-Lee hit Oprah?!?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

NICE!

LOL!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ndx

[Spok]

"Black Hole Seen Ripping Star Apart"

I thought this was a report on the Streisand/Brolin marriage.

[Larry Lucido]

This unlucky star just wandered into the wrong neighborhood

Well, maybe if Republicans weren't cutting neighborhood block grants, it wouldn't have been the "wrong" neighborhood.

[RazzPutin]

If dark energy were visible, what color would it be?

I'm sticking with the Phlogiston Model. Those Electric Cosmos people say it's just plasma arcing around.

[neverdem]

LOL until I coughed. BTTT