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Launch of ‘Bullets’ In A Black Hole’s Jet
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Supermassive black hole swallows star
This illustration released by the journal Nature shows an artist’s conception a surge of X-rays from deep space, which resulted after a black hole tore apart a star. (Amadeo Bachar – AFP/Getty Images) For the first time ever, astronomers say they have witnessed a supermassive black hole devouring a star.
In two papers released Wednesday by the journal Nature, scientists described blasts of radiation so bright and powerful they could only be explained by a luckless, sun-sized star being torn apart by the gravitational forces of a “cosmic monster” — the supermassive black hole.
While scientists say this has happened before, this is the first time they have witnessed the event.
On March 28, a detector on the Earth-orbiting Swift observatory picked up a Read more…
Scientists discover brightest, earliest quasar
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A team of European astronomers, glimpsing back in time to when the universe was just a youngster, says it has detected the most distant and earliest quasar yet.
Light from this brilliant, starlike object took nearly 13 billion years to reach Earth, meaning the quasar existed when the universe was only 770 million years old – a kid by cosmic standards. The discovery ranks as the brightest object ever found.
To scientists’ surprise, the black hole powering this quasar was 2 billion times more massive than the sun. How it grew so bulky so early in the universe’s history is a mystery. Black holes are known to feed on stars, gas and other matter, but their growth was always thought to be slow.
The discovery was reported in Thursday’s issue of the journal Nature.
Since quasars are so luminous, they guide astronomers studying the conditions of Read more…
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