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Black Hole Caught Red-Handed in a Stellar Homicide

PASADENA, Calif. – Astronomers have gathered the most direct evidence yet of a supermassive black hole shredding a star that wandered too close. NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer, a space-based observatory, and the Pan-STARRS1 telescope on the summit of Haleakala in Hawaii were among the first to help identify the stellar remains.

Supermassive black holes, weighing millions to billions times more than the sun, lurk in the centers of most galaxies. These hefty monsters lie quietly until an unsuspecting victim, such as a star, wanders close enough to get ripped apart by their powerful gravitational clutches. (more…)

Echoes From an Exploding Star

By Guest PostFebruary 16, 2012Sciencearmin rest, astronomers, astronomical equivalent, brightness, british astronomer, canyon, double star system, earth, erupting stars, eta carinae, fahrenheit, great eruption, hubble images, Hubble Space Telescope, kelvin, light, light echo, luminous blue variables, milky way galaxy, nathan smith, nebula, peak, physical models, sir john herschel, sky, spectroscopic observations, stellar class, supernova

*Astronomers watch a delayed broadcast of a powerful stellar eruption.*

Astronomers are watching the astronomical equivalent of streaming live video of a spectacular outburst from the unstable, behemoth double-star system Eta Carinae, which initially was seen on Earth nearly 170 years ago.

Dubbed the “Great Eruption,” the outburst lasted from 1837 to 1858 and caught the attention of sky-watchers at the time, including the British astronomer Sir John Herschel. He did not have the benefit of the imaging cameras and spectrographs that modern astronomers use to learn about stars, so we only have a historical record of the star’s visual brightness. (more…)

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Black Hole Caught Red-Handed in a Stellar Homicide

Echoes From an Exploding Star