Current Events > Black hole devouring a neutron star caused ripples in space and time, scientists

(+) Yeah! (+)

...say

https://www.foxnews.com/science/black-hole-devouring-neutron-star-detected

A black hole swallowing a neutron star has likely been detected for the first time, according to scientists.

The Australian National University (ANU), which participated in the research, explains that the cataclysmic event was detected on Aug. 14, 2019, by gravitational-wave discovery machines in the U.S. and Italy. The machines detected ripples in space and time from an event that happened about 8,550 million trillion kilometers away from Earth, ANU said in a statement.

Neutron stars and black holes are the super-dense remains of dead stars, it explained, noting that scientists are still studying the data to work out the size of the two objects.

"About 900 million years ago, this black hole ate a very dense star, known as a neutron star, like Pac-man -- possibly snuffing out the star instantly," said Professor Susan Scott, leader of the General Relativity Theory and Data Analysis Group at ANU and a chief investigator with the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery (OzGrav), in the statement.

Initial findings suggest a very strong likelihood of a black hole devouring a neutron star, according to ANU. "Scientists have never detected a black hole smaller than five solar masses or a neutron star larger than about 2.5 times the mass of our Sun, said Scott. "Based on this experience, we're very confident that we've just detected a black hole gobbling up a neutron star.

However, Scott also acknowledged the slight possibility that the swallowed object was a very light black hole.

The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), which is operated by Caltech and MIT, detected the event, as did its Virgo sister facility near Pisa, Italy.

LIGO uses identical detector sites in Washington State and Louisiana to operate as a single "observatory. Virgo is located at the site of the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO).

In a separate project, scientists released the first-ever image of a black hole earlier this year, revealing the distant object in stunning detail.

The groundbreaking discovery was made by the Event Horizon Telescope, an international project involving telescopes across the globe that describes itself as a virtual Earth-sized telescope. Telescopes in Hawaii, Arizona, Chile, Mexico, Spain and the South Pole participated in the ambitious research project.

The black hole was spotted in galaxy Messier 87 (M87), 55 million light-years away. A light-year, which measures distance in space, equals 6 trillion miles.

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shit. that's kinda scary

boxington posted...

However, Scott also acknowledged the slight possibility that the swallowed object was a very light black hole.

So this topic is just hearsay.

Get back to me when they actually have proof. Otherwise it's another "Whoops, we're actually off by about a billion years" situation.

Id like to see them prove it.
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We're all doomed
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bump
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boxington posted...

About 900 million years ago

thats how long it took the particles to reach us?

damn gina
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Time is a constant thing and cannot have ripples, it is not a liquid.

So fake lmfao
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Ripples in time, you say?
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A_A_Battery posted...

Time is a constant thing and cannot have ripples, it is not a liquid.

As we know of time anyway. Until new evidence contradicts our thinking then we have to change our thinking.

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Fancy way of saying your mother passed gas
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untrustful posted...

A_A_Battery posted...

Time is a constant thing and cannot have ripples, it is not a liquid.

As we know of time anyway. Until new evidence contradicts our thinking then we have to change our thinking.

I mean...current understanding of time already tells us conclusively that time is different depending on where you are and how fast you are moving.

GPS satellites literally have to compensate for it because time moves at a different pace for them in orbit than it does for us on Earth's surface.
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Zikten posted...

shit. that's kinda scary

That Fox is reporting on Science?
Yes, I agree.
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wow
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The really scary thing is that strange matter might exist in the core of neutron stars, and this is the only way it can break free. If it does, it can infect normal matter like a sort of physics plague.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmmnqwBAfmQ" data-time="
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UnhndredDescole posted...

Black holes are so incomprehensible and vast.

actually they are incomprehensibly tiny
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UnhndredDescole posted...

Black holes are so incomprehensible and vast.

Are they though? big mass has more gravity than other masses

Gravity/mass and shit effects space time

Its basically justa really big star

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Anyway, not sure how many of you guys know how LIGO works, but its pretty interesting.

The put out these lasers that go in a straight line and bounce off a mirror and travel back like several kilometers. Then they take a supercomputer and simulate stuff like a neutron star getting swallowed by a black hole and compare the data to how much the laser moves (less than 100th a width of your hair usually, over several miles)

When the data matches the movement of the laser, they claim to have "discovered a black hole" or whatever else.

It is really fascinating to me.
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A_A_Battery posted...

Time is a constant thing and cannot have ripples, it is not a liquid.

Ripples refer to time passing differently over different sections of space, which are consistent with relativity and the way time-space interacts with large gravitational objects.

It's irrelevant to us as humans, because our perception of passing time is unaffected by that stuff, but it's important on the cosmic scale. We have no way to tell if time is sped up for us due to high velocity/gravity or any such thing. We'd only know by observing differences after being in isolation and returning.

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The Australian National University (ANU)

Should have been called The Australian National University of Science
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UnhndredDescole posted...

Black holes are so incomprehensible and vast.

The smallest solar black holes have diameters of only 15 miles or so (to the event horizon). It's not their size that are incomprehensible, it's their density and nature of whatever is at the center.

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The Admiral posted...

The smallest solar black holes have diameters of only 15 miles or so (to the event horizon). It's not their size that are incomprehensible, it's their density and nature of whatever is at the center.

Theres a lot of empty space in molecules

Its comprehensible

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A_A_Battery posted...

Time is a constant thing and cannot have ripples, it is not a liquid.

Time isnt constant, the speed of light is...
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RescueBC posted...

A_A_Battery posted...

Time is a constant thing and cannot have ripples, it is not a liquid.

Time isnt constant, the speed of light is...

Time and the speed of light travel at the same rate and are relative to the curvature of the local spacetime
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Our alien overlords will protect us as they always have.

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