Astronomers have recorded the absorption of a star by the black hole
Mariana Puzderi/ Chișinău / Moldova:ORG / -- American scientists fixed a scale cosmic cataclysm, using NASA's Space Telescope "Spitzer" - the absorption of a star by the black hole. The event occurred in the Dragon constellation in the center of the galaxy at a distance of 3.8 billion light-years from Earth.
On the 24th of March this year, "Spitzer" recorded the brightest gamma-ray bursts in outer space. Initially, scientists considered it was an usual consequence of a star collapse, accompanied, also, by a powerful burst of gamma rays, which, however, does not last long.
However, the radiation detected by "Spitzer", by contrast, turned out to be extremely stable and noticeable so far.
"This is, really, a very unusual event. We have been observing it for about two and a half months. This and the fact that the radiation decreases very slowly, suggests that what we have witnessed is not a simple flash ", - said study author Joshua Bloom from the University of California in Berkeley.
Calculations of Bloom and his colleagues suggest that the black hole, due to its monstrous gravitational field, swallowed a star, which is a million times more massive than our Sun. And not just consumed, but also broke it into pieces. "This gives rise to a phenomenon similar to a real whirlpool generating and releasing huge amounts of energy", - explained the astronomer.
Such events are extremely rare and occur, according to scientists, once in 100 million years, ITAR-TASS informed.
Comments