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<ul><li>Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (<keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword>) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have spotted a supermassive blackhole on a regular schedule.</li><li>The <keyword id="6409890" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="black-hole">black hole</keyword> gobbles up material worth four Moons, not once, but thrice a day.</li><li>It’s 400,000 times the mass of the Sun and shines 20 times brighter when it’s feeding.</li></ul>A <keyword id="2104882" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="supermassive-black-hole">supermassive black hole</keyword>, 250 million light years from Earth is eating about four Moons’ worth of material — not once — but thrice in a day. Like clockwork, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/The-supermassive-black-hole-at-the-center-of-our-galaxy-suddenly-lit-up-brighter-than-scientists-had-ever-seen-and-nobody-knows-why/articleshow/70684341.cms">supermassive black hole</a> flares up every nine hours.This is the first time that scientists have caught a black holes this big, which is 400,000 times the mass of the Sun, on a regular feeding schedule. In fact, the phenomenon was so unprecedented that scientists had to coin a new phrase for it — X-Ray Quasi-Periodic Eruptions. "This black hole is on a meal plan like we’ve never seen before," said Giovanni Miniutti, the lead author of the study published in <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/images/scientists-discover-black-hole-has-three-hot-meals-a-day.html">Nature</a>. Brighter, hotter and hungrier The team conducting the study used the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/images/scientists-discover-black-hole-has-three-hot-meals-a-day.html">NASA</a>) Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the European Space Agency’s ESA XMM-Newton to find X-ray bursts repeating themselves in the center of the GSN 069 galaxy. "By combining data from these two X-ray observatories, we have tracked these periodic outbursts for at least 54 days" said Richard Saxton, co-author of the study. And, it wasn’t just a flicker of light. The X-ray emissions from the super massive blackhole were 20 times brighter when it was swallowing up material, than when it’s quiet. The material going into the black hole also gets hotter whenever it’s being fed on. Hotter by more than 83,000 degrees Celsius. The material itself, is a bit of a mystery. No one knows where it came from. The long standing mystery needs an answer in order for scientists to unravel the black hole’s behaviour. But, why is the black hole so hungry? "We think the origin of the X-ray emission is a star that the black hole has partially or completely torn apart and is slowly consuming bit by bit," said co-author Margherita Giustini. Black holes have been known to consume stars that have been torn apart but the observations have never been accompanied by repetitive X-ray bursts. The other theory is that there is so much energy going into the black hole that its disk becomes unstable. Due to the instability, the surrounding matter starts to fall in at an increasing rate resulting in X-ray blasts that can be observed from Earth. Large increases and decreases in a black hole’s appetite have been seen before, but they normally ever repeat over the course of months or years. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/milky-way-galaxy-black-hole-lights-up-suddenly-2019-8">The supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy suddenly lit up brighter than scientists had ever seen, and nobody knows why</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/isro-nasa-just-spotted-a-black-hole-spinning-so-fast-that-it-could-be-making-space-itself-rotate/articleshow/66416605.cms">ISRO, NASA just spotted a black hole spinning so fast that it could be making space itself rotate</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/new-black-hole-disk-found-by-hubble-in-starved-galaxy/articleshow/70185872.cms">Hubble has found a black hole disk that should be non-existent</a>

Supermassive black hole is eating meals worth four Moons thrice a day

<ul><li>Astronomers are working on plan to capture sharper images of the ‘fuzzy’ <keyword id="6409890" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="black-hole">black hole</keyword> photographed last month. </li><li>They believe that one of the primary reasons for the ‘fuzziness’ was the fact that the picture was taken from Earth. </li><li>So, their plan is to launch satellites into space with telescopes on board to capture clearer photographs. </li></ul>While it’s all well and good that scientists were able to capture the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-astronomers-took-the-first-image-of-a-black-hole-thats-located-55-million-light-years-away/articleshow/68823059.cms">first ever picture</a> of a black hole, many have described the image as being unclear or ‘fuzzy’ — even a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/we-just-got-the-first-ever-photograph-of-a-black-hole-3-million-times-the-size-of-earth-some-people-think-it-looks-like-a-smudge-on-the-lens-/articleshow/68833345.cms">‘smudge on the lens</a>’. One of the reasons for that might be the fact that it was <a href="https://www.aanda.org/component/article?access=doi&amp;doi=10.1051/0004-6361/201732423">taken from Earth</a>. <div type="image" title="simulation" msid="69245190" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Simulation of what the image of the black hole could look like if it was taken from space instead of from Earth&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 According to astronomers from <a href="https://www.ru.nl/english/news-agenda/news/vm/imapp/astrophysics/2019/telescopes-space-even-sharper-images-black-holes/">Radboud University</a> and the European Space Agency (ESA) putting two or three satellite into orbit to capture an image of the black hope would yield sharper results — five times sharper. The satellites would have telescopes on board and since all of this is up in space — the telescopes would be further apart allowing them to cover more area. All, in a neat little package called the <keyword id="7612279" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="event-horizon-imager">Event Horizon Imager</keyword> (EHI). <div type="ExtQuote" text="In space, you can make observations at higher radio frequencies, because the frequencies from Earth are filtered out by the atmosphere. The distances between the telescopes in space are also larger." auname="Freek Roelofs, a Ph.D. candidate at Radboud University and the lead author of the study"></div>

 Advantages of outer space It might not be the easiest thing to get these satellites up into space, but it does have its advantages. <div type="ExtQuote" text="The concept demands that you must be able to ascertain the position and speed of the satellites very accurately. But we really believe that the project is feasible." auname="Volodymyr Kudriashov, a researcher at the Radboud Radio Lab who also works at ESA"></div>

 For example, since the Earth’s atmosphere is taken out of the equation, the EHI should theoretically be able to take pictures five other black holes that are much smaller than the one famously captured earlier this year. The point of getting sharper images of the original black hole isn’t just a superficial endeavour, but one that could help scientists test Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. According to Heino Falcke, a Radio Astronomy Professors, “With them, you can take near perfect images to see the real details of black holes. If small deviations from Einstein's theory occur, we should be able to see them.” The authors of the study theorize that while, ideally, they would want the satellite system to be independent — there might be a case to be made for integrating that system with the telescopes on Earth to form a hybrid system of sorts. <div type="ExtQuote" text="Using a hybrid like this could provide the possibility of creating moving images of a black hole, and you might be able to observe even more and also weaker sources." auname="Heino Falcke , Radio Astronomy Professor"></div>

 The very fact that there is conversation around photographing something invisible is a feat on its own. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-black-hole-bigger-than-the-sun-is-pulling-on-the-fabric-of-space-and-time/articleshow/69127080.cms">A black hole bigger than the sun is pulling on the fabric of space and time</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/heres-how-astronomers-took-the-first-image-of-a-black-hole-thats-located-55-million-light-years-away/articleshow/68823059.cms">Here's how astronomers took the first image of a black hole that's located 55 million light years away</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/physicists-have-discovered-that-rotating-black-holes-might-serve-as-portals-for-hyperspace-travel/articleshow/68434150.cms">Physicists have discovered that rotating black holes might serve as portals for hyperspace travel</a>

The ‘fuzzy’ photo of the black hole could soon be sharp as a knife

<ul><li>Scientists at NASA have a theory that <keyword id="1298462" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Supermassive-Black-Holes">supermassive black holes</keyword> grow from groups of smaller black holes. </li><li>These ‘intermediate’ black holes are ‘seeds’ for supermassive black holes, supplemented by dust and gas. </li><li>But NASA is yet to confirm any sightings of black holes this size. </li></ul>Black holes are one of the most mysterious objects in outer space whose origins continue to perplex scientists. One theory is that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/supermassive-black-hole-is-eating-meals-worth-four-moons-thrice-a-day/articleshow/71090624.cms">supermassive black holes</a>, which have a mass of billions of Suns, grew from a set of smaller black holes. But these black hole ‘seeds’ — nourished by dust and gas — have never been seen. <div type="image" title="blackhole1_edited" msid="71287001" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt; Artist’s representation of intermediate black holes that can form to make supermassive black holes&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 In order to find these elusive entities, scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/black-hole-seeds-missing-in-cosmic-garden">NASA</a>) and other space agencies around the world have their telescopes hunting for ‘intermediate’ black holes. <keyword id="8143188" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="intermediate-black-holes">Intermediate black holes</keyword> NASA has found hundreds of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/black-hole-or-a-neutron-star-nasa-puzzled-over-strange-bright-lights-in-the-fireworks-galaxy/articleshow/71004593.cms">black holes</a> but none of them fit the bill to be seeds for supermassive black holes. Smaller black holes that are a result of exploding supernova, are only between 1 to 100 times the mass of the Sun. On the other hand, supermassive black holes serve as anchors for large galaxies. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/milky-ways-supermassive-black-hole-just-lit-up/articleshow/70671308.cms">Milky Way</a>’s black hole — <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/milky-ways-quiet-wimpy-black-hole-is-getting-hungrier-and-brighter/articleshow/71098006.cms">Sagittarius A*</a> — is equivalent to around 4.1 million Suns. The intermediate black holes that are meant to be the ‘seeds’ for supermassive black holes would fall somewhere in between. Scientists are currently looking for blackholes that have a mass of 100 to 100,000 Suns. Invisible or just really hard to find Scientists believe that during the formative days of the universe, exploding stars were not as ‘polluted’ with heavy elements. So, a supernova explosion could result in an intermediate black hole since the only materials available were pure hydrogen and helium. <div type="image" title="blackhole earlyuniverse_edited" msid="71287008" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Artist&amp;#39;s conception illustrates one of the most primitive supermassive black holes known (central black dot) at the core of a young, star-rich galaxy &amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 It’s possible that all of the intermediate black holes that had to merge have already completed the process, according to NASA. But, it’s also possible that space technology just needs a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/new-black-hole-disk-found-by-hubble-in-starved-galaxy/articleshow/70185872.cms">few more tweaks</a> in order to locate them. Either way, finding a black hole in itself is a task since they <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/first-image-of-black-hole-to-be-sharper-with-event-horizon-imager/articleshow/69245167.cms">don’t emit any light</a>. The only way black holes show up on specialised telescopes is when they’re feeding and the resulting energy emits light. Currently, the most promising candidate that NASA has is HLX-1. Discovered in 2009, the black hole has a mass of around 20,000 Suns with a cluster of young stars in its orbit. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/black-holes-could-be-making-the-universe-expand-using-cores-of-pure-dark-energy/articleshow/71107403.cms">Black holes could be making the universe expand using cores of pure dark energy</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/new-black-hole-disk-found-by-hubble-in-starved-galaxy/articleshow/70185872.cms">Hubble has found a black hole disk that should be non-existent</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/millions-of-black-holes-in-milky-way-are-speeding-after-supernova-natal-kick/articleshow/70903931.cms">Millions of black holes are speeding around the Milky Way after being kicked at birth</a>

Supermassive black holes grew from mysterious ‘seeds’ that are yet to be found

<ul><li>The big spark from the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way in May was only one of three ‘unprecedented' changes. </li><li>The black hole, <keyword id="1099727" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sagittarius">Sagittarius</keyword> A*, is the hungriest its been in the past 24 years — normally known for being quite benign. </li><li>Scientists are yet to determine the cause behind the black hole's increase in appetite but they do have a few theories running. </li></ul>The black hole at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is normally benign. But, for the first time in 24 years, it's feasting on everything that comes its way. It's hungrier than ever before, consuming unusually large amounts of dust and gas — and researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (<a href="http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/black-hole-getting-hungrier">UCLA</a>) are trying to figure out why. "It's usually a pretty quiet, wimpy black hole on a diet. We don't know what is driving this big feast," said Andrea Ghez, co-author of the study published in <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/ab38c3">Astrophysical Journal Letters</a>. One of the changes they observed was when the black shone <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/milky-ways-supermassive-black-hole-just-lit-up/articleshow/70671308.cms">75 times brighter than usual</a> on May 13. But that wasn't the only time. There were also two other nights this year when the team observed "unprecedented" changes in the black hole, according to Ghez. Hungry hungry black hole Something was already up with Sagittarius A* when it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/milky-ways-supermassive-black-hole-just-lit-up/articleshow/70671308.cms">shone brighter than ever before</a>. Now, its unusual appetite has researchers thinking that the black hole might be entering a new phase altogether. <div type="image" title="467383main_PIA10093" msid="71099508" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Artist concept of a growing black hole, or quasar, seen at the center of a faraway galaxy&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 On the other hand, it could just be an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/our-very-own-black-hole-in-the-milky-way-doesnt-quite-eat-up-everything/articleshow/69684893.cms">unusual form of gas</a> that's making the black hole react this way. "We have never seen anything like this in the 24 years we have studied the supermassive black hole," stated Ghez. <div type="image" title="467382main_dn12679-1_600" msid="71099521" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Artist concept of matter swirling around a black hole&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 Researchers from the UCLA Galactic Centre Group looked at more than 13,000 observations of the Milky Way's black hole from the Keck Observatory in Hawaii and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. These observations covered 133 nights since 2003. ‘Unprecedented' changes in the black hole If the black hole isn't changing and it's only an unusual amount of gas and dust — the scientists currently have three possible explanations. One reason for the black hole's massive brightness could be the star S0-2. When it approached the black hole in 2018, a large quantity of its gas could have been pulled towards it, which only reached the black hole this year. <div type="image" title="blackholeatt_edited" msid="71099551" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Rendering of a star called S0-2 orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

 The other theory is that a set of binary stars called G2 could be the cause of the black hole's unusual appetite. Their closest approach to the black hole was five years ago but its far reaching effects, could have stripped G2 of its outer layer. If it's not stars, it could be <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-10-biggest-asteroids-that-could-crash-into-earth-this-year/articleshow/70686096.cms">asteroids</a>. If a large enough asteroid was caught in the black hole's gravity, it's possible that it could be the cause of its large meal. Either way, it's nothing that Earth has to worry about. The black hole is a massive 26,000 light years away from the planet and poses no immediate threat. In order for there to be repercussions, the brightness would have to be 10 billion times as bright than what was observed, to affect life on Earth. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/milky-ways-supermassive-black-hole-just-lit-up/articleshow/70671308.cms">There was a big spark — 75 times brighter than usual — from the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/new-black-hole-disk-found-by-hubble-in-starved-galaxy/articleshow/70185872.cms">Hubble has found a black hole disk that should be non-existent</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/black-hole-or-a-neutron-star-nasa-puzzled-over-strange-bright-lights-in-the-fireworks-galaxy/articleshow/71004593.cms">Black hole or a neutron star — NASA puzzled over strange bright lights in the 'Fireworks' galaxy</a>

Milky Way’s ‘quiet wimpy’ black hole is getting hungrier and brighter

<ul><li>A new study shares the discovery of three <keyword id="1298462" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Supermassive-Black-Holes">supermassive black holes</keyword> on a feeding frenzy, as they edge closer together.</li><li>The unusual system of supermassive black holes was spotted by multiple observatories across the world.</li><li>The discovery offers a new way to study how galaxies merge and grow as well as a new method to spot trios of supermassive black holes in other parts of the universe.</li></ul>Finding a singular <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/supermassive-black-hole-origin-hunt-by-nasa-and-other-space-agencies/articleshow/71286977.cms">supermassive black hole</a> is a feat but finding three galaxies are colliding is especially rare. The unusual system, SDSS J0849+1114, was spotted by several observatories around the world, according to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/images/found-three-black-holes-on-collision-course.html">NASA</a>). The collective images of the supermassive black holes show that more than one of them is on a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/supermassive-black-hole-is-eating-meals-worth-four-moons-thrice-a-day/articleshow/71090624.cms">feeding frenzy</a>. "This is the strongest evidence yet found for such a triple system of actively feeding supermassive black holes," said Ryan Pfeifle, the lead author of the study published in <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.01732">The Astrophysical Journal</a>. Located a billion light years away from Earth, the collision doesn't pose any threat to the planet. Tearing through the veil It's not that other trios of supermassive black holes don't exist but it's difficult for astronomers to spot them since they are likely to be hidden by gas and dust that they feed on. The density of the material would block out most of the light. In fact, computer simulations by NASA show that 16% of double supermassive black holes in colliding galaxies interacted with a third supermassive black hole, along the way. This particular trio of supermassive black holes was first spotted by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) telescope. Scientists from the Galaxy Zoo project then tagged it as a system of colliding galaxies. The discovery was confirmed by NASA's Wide-field Survey Explorer (WISE), the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/milky-ways-supermassive-black-hole-just-lit-up/articleshow/70671308.cms">Chandra</a> telescope and the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT). Since these three instruments use infrared and infrared spectra to capture images, it easier for them to pierce through the material in comparison to using optical light. "Through the use of these major observaties, we have identified a new way of identifying triple supermassive black holes," said Pfeifle. Gravitational waves The significance of the discovery is that three supermassive black holes behave very differently from single or dual systems of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/incredible-animation-shows-just-how-big-supermassive-black-holes-can-get/articleshow/69313711.cms">supermassive black holes</a>. But, they are still a 'natural consequence' of galaxy mergers, according to NASA. Theory of the 'final parsec problem' states that the existence of third supermassive black hole can accelerate the merging of the other two supermassive black holes. Knowing how to spot triple supermassive black holes could provide clues into how galaxies merge and grow. Especially, since the merger of supermassive black holes produce ripples in space called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/scientists-think-theyve-observed-a-black-hole-swallowing-a-neutron-star-for-the-first-time-it-made-ripples-in-space-and-time-as-einstein-predicted-/articleshow/70912129.cms">gravitational waves</a>. These waves carry information about their origins and aren't affected by alterations as they travel through intergalactic space. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/supermassive-black-hole-is-eating-meals-worth-four-moons-thrice-a-day/articleshow/71090624.cms">Supermassive black hole is eating meals worth four Moons thrice a day</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/supermassive-black-hole-origin-hunt-by-nasa-and-other-space-agencies/articleshow/71286977.cms">Supermassive black holes grew from mysterious 'seeds' that are yet to be found</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/incredible-animation-shows-just-how-big-supermassive-black-holes-can-get/articleshow/69313711.cms">Incredible animation shows just how big supermassive black holes can get</a>

A rare trio of supermassive black holes spotted as three galaxies collide

<ul><li>A new study indicates that <keyword id="8041453" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="speeding-black-holes">speeding black holes</keyword> are zipping around the <keyword id="67503" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="milky-way">Milky Way</keyword>. </li><li>The fast speed of the binary black hole systems are a result of being kicked away at birth by their supernova. </li><li>Using the study, scientists estimate that there could be up to 7.5 million high speed <keyword id="4740034" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="black-holes">black holes</keyword> in our very own galaxy. </li></ul>Black holes are quite the conundrum as scientists are still trying to determine how they came into being. One theory is that when a massive star collapses upon itself — a supernova — the explosion is so huge that a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/10-mind-blowing-facts-about-black-holes/articleshow/44879500.cms">black hole</a> is born. A new study in the <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.07199">Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</a> indicates that not only are black holes born in supernova explosions but some explosions are so huge that they kick the black holes across the galaxy. Travelling at speeds greater than 70 kilometers per second — that’s 252,000 kilometers per hour — there might be millions of high speed black holes moving about the Milky Way. Black holes and stars have something in common Scientists have already determined that neutron stars, also the result of a supernova explosion, can kicked across vast distances. They call it the <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-fermi-satellite-clocks-cannonball-pulsar-speeding-through-space">Blaauw kick</a> or natal kick. They surmise that this happens when a supernova explosion is a little lopsided, resulting in what would be perceived as a recoil. Previous studies show that seven black holes follow the same pattern — binary black hole systems that have been pushed away with natal kicks. Only they’re slower by a factor of about three or four. Scientists aren’t sure why but theorise that it’s because black holes are denser with a higher mass. This new study analysed these seven black holes, along with nine others. They found that 12 out of the 16 were moving at high velocities and, according to their path, were a result of a supernova kicking them them away. To put that in proportion, the Milky Way is home to at least <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/black-holes">10 million</a> black holes that we know of — so an estimated 7.5 million black holes could be spinning and zooming at high speeds in our own galaxy. Blinking in wait for <keyword id="1860685" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="gravitational-waves">gravitational waves</keyword> Knowing how many <keyword id="8041452" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="binary-black-holes">binary black holes</keyword> are whipping around the Milky Way serves a crucial purpose. Scientists will be able to estimate of how many could merge to create <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Why-a-rumor-about-the-discovery-of-something-Einstein-predicted-over-100-years-ago-is-going-viral/articleshow/50553987.cms?from=mdr">gravitational waves</a> that can be detected by LIGO. Gravitational waves, in themselves, are a recently confirmed phenomenon. These ripples in space-time are a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Heres-why-discovering-gravitational-waves-would-be-a-100-year-breakthrough/articleshow/50555053.cms">new way to understand how the universe works.</a> Before September 2015, the only tool that scientists had at their disposal was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/7-mind-blowing-facts-about-gravitational-waves-the-100-year-old-prediction-just-confirmed-by-scientists/Before-the-first-detection-of-gravitational-waves-we-had-no-way-of-knowing-if-black-holes-could-merge-So-this-discovery-doesnt-just-confirm-Einsteins-prediction-It-also-reveals-a-brand-new-behavior-in-the-cosmos-that-we-never-knew-existed-before-/slideshow/50953455.cms">studying how light travels through space.</a> See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/milky-ways-supermassive-black-hole-just-lit-up/articleshow/70671308.cms">There was a big spark — 75 times brighter than usual — from the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/isro-nasa-just-spotted-a-black-hole-spinning-so-fast-that-it-could-be-making-space-itself-rotate/articleshow/66416605.cms">ISRO, NASA just spotted a black hole spinning so fast that it could be making space itself rotate</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-black-hole-bigger-than-the-sun-is-pulling-on-the-fabric-of-space-and-time/articleshow/69127080.cms">A black hole bigger than the sun is pulling on the fabric of space and time</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/our-very-own-black-hole-in-the-milky-way-doesnt-quite-eat-up-everything/articleshow/69684893.cms">Our very own black hole in the Milky Way doesn’t quite eat up ‘everything’</a>

Millions of black holes are speeding around the Milky Way after being kicked at birth

<ul><li>The <keyword id="2104882" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="supermassive-black-hole">supermassive black hole</keyword> at the center of the Milky just lit up brighter than ever before. </li><li>Researchers who made the discover initially thought that they might be looking at a star.</li><li>The <keyword id="67503" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="milky-way">Milky Way</keyword>’s black hole is generally not very active and scientists are looking for more data to determine why it suddenly shone so bright.</li></ul>Our solar system, the Milky Way, has a supermassive black hole at the heart of it and it just shined brighter than ever before. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/our-very-own-black-hole-in-the-milky-way-doesnt-quite-eat-up-everything/articleshow/69684893.cms">Sagittarius A*</a> is normally a pretty subdued black hole only flickering every once in a while to let us know it’s still there. This is because it doesn’t have an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Physicists-have-discovered-that-rotating-black-holes-might-serve-as-portals-for-hyperspace-travel/articleshow/68434150.cms">active center.</a> 
	
	
	<div type="twitter" handle="quantumpenguin" handlename="Tuan Do" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/513082247948148737/sa4usRVw_normal.jpeg" favoritecount="2831" retweetcount="1281" status="Here's a timelapse of images over 2.5 hr from May from @keckobservatory of the supermassive black hole Sgr A*. The… https://t.co/XL6stP807v" createdat="1565488428000" id="1160368687590727680"></div>







 But this week, astronomers from saw the black hole glow 75 times brighter than it usually does in infrared before reverting back to its usual levels. In fact, the light from the black hole was so bright that <a href="https://twitter.com/quantumpenguin/status/1160368687590727680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1160368687590727680&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencealert.com%2Four-galaxy-s-supermassive-black-hole-just-mysteriously-got-really-really-bright">Tuan Do</a>, who spotted the anomaly from the Keck Observatory, thought that it was a star at first. The scientists at <a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.01777">Cornell University</a> are now on a mission to find out why. Looking for answers The amount of light a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/10-mind-blowing-facts-about-black-holes/articleshow/44879500.cms">black hole</a> emits isn’t the actual black hole glowing but the disk around its gravitational center than pulls any dust and gas in the surrounding area. The friction among the particles in the disk is what produces the radiation that can be caught by infrared readings. S0-2 is a star that passed close to the black hole last year, so it’s possible that it changed the way that gas flows into the black hole. “So more gas is falling in it, leading it to become more variable,” Do told <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/our-galaxy-s-supermassive-black-hole-just-mysteriously-got-really-really-bright">Science Alert.</a> But, the scientists can only speculate on what really happened until they have more data to analyse. Luckily, the Keck Observatory is not the only eye tracking the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-new-3d-map-of-the-milky-way-reveals-our-galaxys-warped-shape-in-unprecedented-detail/articleshow/70488471.cms">Milky Way</a>’s black hole Other telescopes like Spitzer, Chandra, Swift and ALMA are also watching the night sky. Curating more data from those sources can help the scientists figure out what happened. 
	
	<div type="twitter" handle="quantumpenguin" handlename="Tuan Do" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/513082247948148737/sa4usRVw_normal.jpeg" favoritecount="23" retweetcount="4" status="@astronomeara @AsteroidEnergy @loganpearce @keckobservatory We can still get data from Keck for a few more weeks be… https://t.co/tCEBu24qK1" createdat="1565540366000" id="1160586532765306881"></div>





 See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/isro-nasa-just-spotted-a-black-hole-spinning-so-fast-that-it-could-be-making-space-itself-rotate/articleshow/66416605.cms">ISRO, NASA just spotted a black hole spinning so fast that it could be making space itself rotate</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/our-very-own-black-hole-in-the-milky-way-doesnt-quite-eat-up-everything/articleshow/69684893.cms">Our very own black hole in the Milky Way doesn’t quite eat up ‘everything’</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/new-black-hole-disk-found-by-hubble-in-starved-galaxy/articleshow/70185872.cms">Hubble has found a black hole disk that should be non-existent</a>

There was a big spark — 75 times brighter than usual — from the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way

<ul><li>A network of 20 robotic telescopes, ASAS-SN, just spotted a star getting shredded after getting too close to a black hole.</li><li>The black hole is 6 million times the mass of the Sun in our Solar System and located around 375 million light years away.</li><li>A <keyword id="4228677" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="tidal-disruption-event">Tidal Disruption Event</keyword> (TDE) like this only occurs every 10,000 to 100,000 years making it extremely rare.</li></ul>Astronomers spotted a star getting torn apart by <keyword id="2104882" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="supermassive-black-hole">supermassive black hole</keyword> with a mass 6 million times greater than the Sun. The Tidal Disruption Event (TDE) could only have occurred if the distance between the supermassive black hole and the star was at least as far as the Sun from the Earth, according to scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-tess-mission-spots-its-1st-star-shredding-black-hole">NASA</a>). TDEs occur when a supermassive black hole's forces are so strong that they overwhelm the star's own gravity and pull it apart. They're also extremely rare, only occurring once every 10,000 to 100,000 years. The event dubbed ASASSN-19bt occured around 375 million light years away from Earth in the constellation called Volans in a galaxy called 2MASX J07001137-6602251. Scientists previously believed that all TDEs would look the same, but ASASSN-19bt is unusual in several ways. 
 <div type="Youtube" id="85tdoDt1Qh0" title="TESS Catches its First Star-destroying Black Hole" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/85tdoDt1Qh0/mqdefault.jpg"></div>



 Everything that makes this TDE special This is the first time that <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword> has been able to capture a TDE in so much detail using its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). "The early TESS data allow us to see light very close to the black hole, much closer than we've been able to see before," stated Patrick Vallely, co-author of the discovery published in <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ab3c66">The Astrophysical Journal</a>. Using those observations, astronomers were able to determine ASASSN 19bt's host galaxy is younger and has a lot more dust as compared TDEs observed in the past. Unlike other TDEs, ASASSN-19bt also showed a temperature drop was seen early during the tidal disruption — also a first. The tidal disruption saw a 50% drop in temperature. It went from 40,000 degrees Celsius to 20,000 degrees Celsius over the span of a few days. A network of 20 robotic telescopes, All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN), initially noticed that there was something brewing in the distant galaxy. After that Thomas Holoien, the lead author of the study, roped in the help of other telescopes around the world. "Only a handful of TDEs have been discovered before they reached peak brightness and this one was found just a few days after it started to brighten" <a href="https://carnegiescience.edu/news/found-poster-child-being-shredded-black-hole">said</a> Holoien.

Supermassive black hole is tearing apart a star which got too close

<ul><li>Astronomers have found a <keyword id="7859097" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="black-hole-disk">black hole disk</keyword> where one shouldn’t exist using the <keyword id="43700" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hubble-Telescope">Hubble Telescope</keyword> Imaging Spectrograph (STIS).</li><li>The <keyword id="6409890" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="black-hole">black hole</keyword> in the NGC 3147 Spiral Galaxy may be malnutritioned but it still has a disk of material circling its gravitational field 10% faster than the speed of light. </li><li>The black hole’s disk is embedded so deep in is <keyword id="1159038" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Gravitational-pull">gravitational pull</keyword> that even light is having a hard time escaping.</li></ul>Ordinarily most <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=black+hole&amp;sortorder=score&amp;curpg=1">black holes</a> have matter circling along their borders as they pull matter in with <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-black-hole-bigger-than-the-sun-is-pulling-on-the-fabric-of-space-and-time/articleshow/69127080.cms">gravitational force</a>. But, weaker black holes that don’t have enough material to feed on, grow smaller with time and the circling disk is assumed to be absent. But, one black hole in the NGC 3147 Spiral Galaxy, with a mass 250 times that of our Sun, is <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/488/1/L1/5522653">breaking</a> that postulate. 
 <div type="image" title="black hole" msid="70186005" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Artist&amp;#39;s illustration of the supermassive black hole residing at the core of spiral galaxy NGC 3147&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



 Even though the black hole is malnutritioned and much smaller than its counterparts in more active galaxies, astronomers using the <a href="https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2019/news-2019-35.html#section-id-2">Hubble Telescope</a> have detected a <keyword id="7859098" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="disk-of-gas">disk of gas</keyword> embedded within the black hole’s gravitational field. 
 <div type="ExtQuote" text="We thought this was the best candidate to confirm that below certain luminosities, the accretion disk doesn't exist anymore. What we saw was something completely unexpected." auname="Ari Laor of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and one of the author’s of the study."></div>



 The disc is a scaled down quasar — a celestial object that emits an exceptional amount of energy — that’s normally found in objects that are at least a <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/hubble-uncovers-black-hole-that-shouldnt-exist">1000 times brighter.</a> Suffocating the light The disk is so close to black hole’s gravitational pull that even light is having a hard time escaping — coming out as stretched wavelengths that appear red. 
 <div type="ExtQuote" text="This is an intriguing peek at a disk very close to a black hole, so close that the velocities and the intensity of the gravitational pull are affecting how the photons of light look." auname="Stefano Bianchi from the Università degli Studi Roma Tre and the study’s first author"></div>



 It’s also surprising that a black hole assumed to be starving is whirling material around at 10% faster than the speed of light. As the gas gets closer to Earth, it turns brighter and dimmer as it moves away — a phenomenon called relativistic beaming. The study, published in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/mnrasl/article/488/1/L1/5522653">Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</a>, used the Hubble Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) to prove their hypothesis around lower luminosity active galaxies and how malnourished black holes can also use gas trapped by the gravitational field to form discs of material. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/our-very-own-black-hole-in-the-milky-way-doesnt-quite-eat-up-everything/articleshow/69684893.cms">Our very own black hole in the Milky Way doesn’t quite eat up ‘everything’</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-black-hole-bigger-than-the-sun-is-pulling-on-the-fabric-of-space-and-time/articleshow/69127080.cms">A black hole bigger than the sun is pulling on the fabric of space and time</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/first-image-of-black-hole-to-be-sharper-with-event-horizon-imager/articleshow/69245167.cms">The ‘fuzzy’ photo of the black hole could soon be sharp as a knife</a>

Hubble has found a black hole disk that should be non-existent

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory observed a <keyword id="6409890" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="black-hole">black hole</keyword> sucking in a faraway star, shredding it into thin strands of stellar material.</li><li>This process, known as "spaghettification," happens because of black holes' powerful gravitational force.</li><li>At 215 million light-years away, this spaghettification process is the closest ever observed by astronomers. </li></ul>Astronomers have captured a rarely-seen event: a flare of light caused by a black hole devouring a nearby star like spaghetti.Observed in the Eridanus constellation, about 215 million light-years away from Earth, the star's destruction is the closest such event astronomers have ever observed. "When an unlucky star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy, the extreme gravitational pull of the black hole shreds the star into thin streams of material," study author Thomas Wevers, a fellow at the European Southern Observatory in Santiago, Chile, said <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2018/">in a press release about the discovery.</a>This process is called a tidal disruption event – or, more colloquially, "spaghettification," a nod to the long, thin strands a star becomes as the black hole's gravity stretches it thinner and thinner. When these strands get sucked into the black hole, they release a powerful flare of energy that astronomers can detect, even from hundreds of millions of light-years away. <div type="image" title="spaghettification" height="1308" width="2628" msid="78627843" hostid="261"></div>The researchers studied the dying star over a six-month period, using tools including ESO's Very Large Telescope and its New Technology Telescope, and published their findings in <a href="https://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso2018/eso2018a.pdf">Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.</a><h2>Examining spaghettification in 'unprecedented detail'</h2>The research team discovered the star soon after it started getting ripped apart, and observed it through ultraviolet, optical, X-ray and radio wavelengths. The combination of the star's proximity and timing allowed the astronomers to study it in "unprecedented detail," according to the press release.Even though a spaghettifying star releases a bright energy flare, researchers have often had trouble in the past examining such flares because dust and debris obscure them. Now they know the debris comes from the spaghettification process itself."We found that, when a black hole devours a star, it can launch a powerful blast of material outwards that obstructs our view," Samantha Oates, an astronomer at the University of Birmingham and a coauthor of the study, said in the press release.In other words, as the black hole gobbles up the star, it releases energy that flings chunks of star-debris outwards. The team also estimated the size of the dying star: It was about the mass of our own Sun, which is 2×1030 kg, or about 330,000 Earths. By the end of the study period, "it lost about half of that to the monster black hole, which is over a million times more massive," Matt Nicholl, a Royal Astronomical Society research fellow at the University of Birmingham and lead author of the study, said in the press release. Going forward, the astronomers hope their detailed observations of this spaghettifying star can help future researchers demystify similar events – and in doing so, help us learn more about how black holes and matter interact.

You Searched For "black holes" and got 10 results

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