NASA | Massive Black Hole Shreds Passing Star
This artist’s rendering illustrates new findings about a star shredded by a black hole. When a star wanders too close to a black hole, intense tidal forces rip the star apart. In these events, called “tidal disruptions,” some of the stellar debris is flung outward at high speed while the rest falls toward the black hole. This causes a distinct X-ray flare that can last for a few years. NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, Swift Gamma-ray Burst Explorer, and ESA/NASA’s XMM-Newton collected different pieces of this astronomical puzzle in a tidal disruption event called ASASSN-14li, which was found in an optical search by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) in November 2014. The event occurred near a supermassive black hole estimated to weigh a few million times the mass of the sun in the center of PGC 043234, a galaxy that lies about 290 million light-years away. Astronomers hope to find more events like ASASSN-14li to test theoretical models about how black holes affect their environments.
During the tidal disruption event, filaments containing much of the star's mass fall toward the black hole. Eventually these gaseous filaments merge into a smooth, hot disk glowing brightly in X-rays. As the disk forms, its central region heats up tremendously, which drives a flow of material, called a wind, away from the disk.
Music credit: Encompass by Mark Petrie from Killer Tracks.
This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?12005
You can read more about this at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cha...
Like our videos? Subscribe to NASA's Goddard Shorts HD podcast:
http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/iTunes/f...
Or find NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/NASA.GSFC
Or find us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/NASAGoddard
-
1:16:27
Glenn Greenwald
5 hours agoMyths and Lies About Julian Assange Endure After Plea Deal Reached Securing His Freedom | SYSTEM UPDATE #289
47K114 -
DVR
Laura Loomer
3 hours agoEP54: Islamic Jihadists Threaten to Shut Down First Presidential Debate!
12.1K23 -
58:16
Edge of Wonder
7 hours agoHow a Philadelphia Experiment Whistleblower Mysteriously Vanished Forever
26.4K2 -
2:10
One Bite Pizza Reviews
1 day agoBarstool Pizza Review - The Slice Spot (West Chicago, IL)
26.9K32 -
2:03:40
Revenge of the Cis
7 hours agoEpisode 1343: Fatty Positivity
64.4K29 -
15:51
VIVA TV
10 hours agoJake Paul Is About To Get Bare Knuckled | Barstool Boxing | Large
47.1K14 -
2:09:32
RamseySolutions
14 hours agoThe Ramsey Show (June 25, 2024)
38.2K2 -
1:03:48
TheMonicaCrowleyPodcast
6 hours agoThe Monica Crowley Podcast: Weaponized Lies
59.4K15 -
4:42:55
Phyllis Schlafly Eagles
9 hours ago31st Collegians Summit LIVE | June 25, 2024
46.6K1 -
1:13:43
Awaken With JP
10 hours agoDebate Week - Of Course We Won't Be Biased - LIES Ep. 46
97.4K134