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View Full Version : RX J1242-11: Giant Black Hole Rips Star Apart


Brickman
02-18-04, 10:26 PM
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/rxj1242/
skaven
02-19-04, 12:13 AM
Very Cool.

Almost as spectacular as the firefight in Atlanta a few years ago. ;)
Ankf00
02-19-04, 12:19 AM
welfare for engineers my arse. :mad:

f'ing NEAT!!!
cart7
02-19-04, 12:22 AM
Because of the momentum and energy of the accretion process, only a few percent of the disrupted star's mass (indicated by the white stream) was swallowed by the black hole, while the rest of was flung away into the surrounding galaxy.

Wasn't Peter North in this one? ;)
dando
02-19-04, 12:44 AM
Quite possibly the coolest astronomical event I've seen since S-L9 a few years back.

-Kevin
Insomniac
02-19-04, 07:35 AM
It would be so cool if they could catch this happening on video or photographs.
Warlock!
02-19-04, 08:44 AM
Peter "the Beer Can" North... Nah, I don't think he had anything to do with this one. ;)

So we've got these astronomical scientists able to understand what's happ'nin' in these pics, not to mention why it's happ'nin'... and the most fitting adjective they could come up with to name the catagorical size of this type of black hole was "supermassive"??? What... was Keanu Reeves (yes... I looked up the spelling) a scientist at one time, before the Bill & Ted movies?

Winter Warlock!
Mike Kellner
02-19-04, 09:37 AM
Great pic.

mk
Methanolandbrats
02-19-04, 11:25 AM
Someone should post this on Track Forum in the astrophysics section.
Don Quixote
02-19-04, 11:28 AM
:cool: Wow.
KLang
02-19-04, 11:44 AM
Additional info. (http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/star_destroyed_040218.html) :cool:

Apparently this event was first noticed in 1990.
Foxman
02-19-04, 11:51 AM
It would be so cool if they could catch this happening on video or photographs.


It would, but I don't think black holes can be seen, they contain so much gravity that even light can't escape, so scientists have to base everything on the unseen laws of physics :( . They might be able to see some of the star as it's being pulled towards the hole, but the whole itself wouldn't show.
Insomniac
02-20-04, 10:13 AM
It would, but I don't think black holes can be seen, they contain so much gravity that even light can't escape, so scientists have to base everything on the unseen laws of physics :( . They might be able to see some of the star as it's being pulled towards the hole, but the whole itself wouldn't show.

I meant seeing the star actually getting pulled apart. :)