Science and Technology
Context: A mysterious and intensely bright flash of light coming from halfway across the universe earlier this year had stunned astronomers worldwide. The source of the intense beam has now been identified — a supermassive black hole ripping apart a star, pointing directly at Earth.
About Tidal disruption event (TDE):
- Astronomers study Blackholes by watching for their effects on nearby stars and gas. These stars are disrupted when the black hole’s tidal gravity exceeds the star’s self-gravity, and this phenomenon is called tidal disruption events (TDE).
- The tidal disruption events are crucial and useful phenomena to detect and predict the mass of supermassive black holes in quiescent galaxies.
About Blackholes:
- A black hole is a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot escape.
- The gravity is so strong because matter has been squeezed into a tiny space. This can happen when a star is dying.
- Visibility:
- Because no light can get out, they are invisible.
- Space telescopes with special tools can help find black holes.
- The gasses swirling around actually help in getting their images.
- Example: The supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy is called Sagittarius A.
- It has a mass equal to about 4 million suns and would fit inside a very large ball that could hold a few million Earths.
Do Black Holes Form?
- Scientists think the smallest black holes formed when the universe began.
- Stellar black holes are made when the centre of a very big star falls in upon itself or collapses.
- When this happens, it causes a supernova. A supernova is an exploding star that blasts part of the star into space.
- Scientists think supermassive black holes were made at the same time as the galaxy they are in.
Source: DownToEarth
Previous Year Questions
Q.1) Recently, scientists observed the merger of giant ‘blackholes’ billions of light-years away from the earth. What is the significance of this observation? (2019)
- ‘Higgs boson particles’ were detected.
- ‘Gravitational waves’ were detected.
- Possibility of intergalactic space travel through ‘wormhole’ was confirmed.
- It enabled the scientists to understand ‘singularity’.
