Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by chromas on Monday November 04 2019, @02:13PM   Printer-friendly
from the back-of-the-class dept.

Have astronomers found a new class of tiny black hole?

Black holes are the cosmic champions of hide-and-seek. Einstein predicted they existed in 1916, but it took over 100 years before a telescope as wide as the world snapped the first picture of a black hole. They're elusive beasts, avoiding detection because they swallow up light. Even so, astronomers can see the tell-tale signs of black holes in the universe by studying different forms of radiation, like X-rays. So far, that's worked -- and a huge number of black holes have been discovered by looking for these signs.

However, an entirely new detection method, pioneered by researchers at The Ohio State University, suggests there may be a whole population of black holes we've been missing.

The findings, published in the journal Science on Nov. 1, detail the discovery of a black hole orbiting the giant star 2MASS J05215658+4359220 (J05215658, for short) using data from Earth-based telescopes and Gaia satellite observations. The team shows J05215658 is being orbited by a massive unseen companion -- and they suspect it might be an entirely new class of black holes.

A noninteracting low-mass black hole–giant star binary system, Science (DOI: 10.1126/science.aau4005)


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday November 05 2019, @10:00AM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Tuesday November 05 2019, @10:00AM (#916191) Journal

    Don't forget the even greater effect in the solar system: radiation pressure [wikipedia.org].

    The difference would be much greater for smaller objects and those closer to the Sun, and "comet" trajectories would be affected even more due to the newfound lack of outgassing.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2