New space object called "black hole star" discovered by astronomers
The newly discovered object looks like a star the size of our solar system, but produces 100 billion times more energy than any star.
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The newly discovered object looks like a star the size of our solar system, but produces 100 billion times more energy than any star.
Scientists have understood for years that black holes should produce wind or streams of gas as they consume matter, but a search for such a wind around the central black hole of the Milky Way galaxy had been coming up fruitless for more than 50 years.
University of Chicago researchers have begun examining data collected by a device transported by a NASA balloon that flew over Antarctica for 23 days.
Although black holes are invisible, astronomers say flares were seen coming from a swirling disc of hot gas and dust just beyond the black hole’s horizon.
The black holes rip the stars apart and consume their stellar debris — becoming more massive, Northwestern explained. This increases their gravitational pull and draws them together as they orbit..
Future detections of activity from the object, especially when accompanied by bursts of electromagnetic radiation, could be crucial to solving the mystery of what it might be.
Have you ever wanted to know what a black hole sounds like? NASA released an audio clip from about 240 million light-years from the earth – and it sounds a little eerie.
The image was produced by the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration, using a network of radio telescopes around the world – including the University of Chicago-affiliated South Pole telescope.
CBS 2’s Jim Williams talked with the black hole discovery with University of Chicago professor John E. Carlstrom.
