Supermassive Black Hole Destroying Proto Star System 67
astroengine writes "A new analysis of recent observations finds evidence for a protoplanetary disk around a red dwarf star plunging in the direction of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Ruth Murray-Clay and Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics did the theoretical work. Stefan Gillessen of the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics made the observations using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The red dwarf star will make its closest approach in the summer of 2013, hurtling only 270 billion miles from black hole. (Or roughly 54 solar system diameters, as measured from the furthest edge of the Kuiper belt.) It won't get sucked into the black hole, but it will be flung back along its elliptical orbit out to a distance of a little more than 1/10 light-years."
Orbit (Score:3)
This sounds like orbit not destruction. It's like how the earth and moon can orbit the sun without being destroyed. I'm sure some of the details will help with measuring the effect of the black hole, but this is sensationalized to an absurd degree.
Re:Orbit (Score:5, Interesting)
If the orbit comes close enough to the black hole, and if the protoplanetary disc is large enough, tidal effects will destroy the protoplanetary disc.
Question is: why hasn't this destruction happened at the previous closest pass of the black hole?
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Re:Orbit (Score:4, Funny)
Because ALIENS.
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If the orbit comes close enough to the black hole, and if the protoplanetary disc is large enough, tidal effects will destroy the protoplanetary disc.
Question is: why hasn't this destruction happened at the previous closest pass of the black hole?
From TFA:
"The star was likely formed in the stellar ring and later thrown into its highly eccentric orbit though a close encounter with one or more stars in the ring. The stars exchanged momentum and the red dwarf was tossed onto a new, deadly trajectory. "
So, even though they're calling it an "orbit," it was likely not on this trajectory before and this is the first time it's getting close enough to the black hole for the disc to be affected. Also, the disc is already being destroyed: "But the dama
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Natural selection my friend. In the end only the supermassives will survive.
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This sounds like orbit not destruction. It's like how the earth and moon can orbit the sun without being destroyed. I'm sure some of the details will help with measuring the effect of the black hole, but this is sensationalized to an absurd degree.
Each time the star passes it probably loses just a wee bit of mass and looks egg shaped. I'd pay to see that, but it would probably be a fatal experience.
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This sounds like orbit not destruction. It's like how the earth and moon can orbit the sun without being destroyed.
Bad analogy disproves your point, as the solar system is fundamentally chaotic [wikipedia.org]. Consider, for example, the Nice Model [wikipedia.org].
Just because it won't be destroyed next Tuesday, or even next galactic year, doesn't mean it won't be snuffed out well before its time in a cosmic time frame.
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Destroying, yes. The star may survive, but the accretion disk that would form planets is being ripped to shreds by the massive tidal forces and radiation from the black hole, and therefore the system is in fact being destroyed. Also the star will probably be ripped apart eventually too, but that is speculation on my part.
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Re:light years (Score:5, Funny)
No, those are arsecs. ;-)
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I know you're trolling, so I'm the pedant who takes the bait.
Light-year: The distance covered by light in one year in a vacuum.
Very much distance, not time.
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A light year is the distance it takes light to travel one year:
| 0.3066013938 pc (parsecs)
| 63241.07708 AU (astronomical units)
| 9.461×10^12 km (kilometers)
| 9.461×10^15 meters
| 5.879 trillion miles
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=light+year [wolframalpha.com]
Though according to general relativity spacetime is 4 dimensional and the distance between two events can be measured in interchangeable units of space and time measured in light-
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From my understanding, you just described Euclidean relativity and not general relativity.
But I'm not a physicist and special relativity is really about as far as I have grasped significantly. I understand Einstein's formulation of special relativity to say that Minkowski's definition of spacetime, which is opposed to Euclidean spacetime, matches more closely with observations. But a quick Google search seems to indicate that there is a growing set of theories that suggest that relativity and Euclidean sp
Pfftt... other world problems. (Score:1)
Pfftt... other world problems.
Proto-Star Protection Legislation (Score:5, Funny)
I propose that we protect these infant stars from the destructive forces of black holes by making it illegal for black holes to be within 1 parsec from any newly forming stars. As an added precaution, they should also stay away from all nebulae and other entities which have the potential to form stars at any time in the future. Help Stop Proto-Star Destruction by calling your congressman/woman today & demanding they pass HR-1@M@N1D01T.
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No Proto-Star Left Behind?
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mumbo jumbo (Score:2)
What's with the religious nonsense in the last paragraphs? It has nothing to do with the finding at all.
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Supermassive Black Hole Destroying Proto Star System
Naughty goatse, no soup for you
More on the theory (Score:2)
From an earlier Nature story: http://www.nature.com/news/gas-cloud-hurtling-towards-milky-way-s-black-hole-may-harbour-young-star-1.11351 [nature.com]
WHY WON'T ANYONE STOP HIM! (Score:1)
He's DESTROYING a proto STAR SYSTEM!
Time... (Score:4, Funny)
The red dwarf star will make its closest approach in the summer of 2013
Hate to get pedantic, but didn't this actually happen tens of thousands of years ago (if not millions), and the light show will only get to us in the summer of 2013?
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Hate to get pedantic, but
I propose an alternative and opposite theory that you actually love to get pedantic.
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No, it actually didn't. I mean, sure from the Dwarf planet's perspective this happened when the Earth still had no sapient species, but from where we sit it happens in the future.
BBC will blame it on Carbon Dioxide (Score:2)
All of the universe's problems are attributed to excessive carbon dioxide according to the BBC.
I am not an astrophysicist.... (Score:2)
...but I have a question for them:
Is it theoretically possible that a star could slingshot around galactic-center black hole and (either through the basic slingshot, or a combination of that plus frame-dragging by the spinning black hole) come out with near-c or higher velocities?
What would happen to it?
Given the number of stars constantly plunging into the holes that are (apparently) at the heart of every galaxy, and a timescale of billions of years, wouldn't it be almost certain that this HAS happened?
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Interesting stuff!
Predictions about effects? (Score:2)