NASA's Chandra Reveals New Star Generation
UPI
Science Daily
________
Cambridge, Mass. (United States):
Astronomers in Cambridge, Mass., using the Chandra X-ray Observatory have reportedly detected a new generation of stars spawned by a super-massive black hole.
The scientists said the stars at the center of the Milky Way might help solve several mysteries about super-massive black holes believed to be at the centers of nearly all galaxies.
"Massive black holes are usually known for violence and destruction," said Sergei Nayakshin at Britain's University of Leicester. "So it's remarkable this black hole helped create new stars, not just destroy them."
Black holes earned their reputation because any material, including stars, that falls within their gravitational reach disappears. But the Chandra discovery indicates disks of gas, orbiting many black holes at a distance from the event horizon, help nurture star formation.
This conclusion comes from clues that could only be revealed in X-rays, scientists said. Until the Chandra results, researchers disagreed about the origin of a mysterious group of massive stars discovered by infrared astronomers.
The research is co-written by Nayakshin and Rashid Sunyaev of the Max Plank Institute for Physics in Garching, Germany, and will appear in an upcoming issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Oct. 13, 2005
UPI
Science Daily
________
Cambridge, Mass. (United States):
Astronomers in Cambridge, Mass., using the Chandra X-ray Observatory have reportedly detected a new generation of stars spawned by a super-massive black hole.
The scientists said the stars at the center of the Milky Way might help solve several mysteries about super-massive black holes believed to be at the centers of nearly all galaxies.
"Massive black holes are usually known for violence and destruction," said Sergei Nayakshin at Britain's University of Leicester. "So it's remarkable this black hole helped create new stars, not just destroy them."
Black holes earned their reputation because any material, including stars, that falls within their gravitational reach disappears. But the Chandra discovery indicates disks of gas, orbiting many black holes at a distance from the event horizon, help nurture star formation.
This conclusion comes from clues that could only be revealed in X-rays, scientists said. Until the Chandra results, researchers disagreed about the origin of a mysterious group of massive stars discovered by infrared astronomers.
The research is co-written by Nayakshin and Rashid Sunyaev of the Max Plank Institute for Physics in Garching, Germany, and will appear in an upcoming issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Oct. 13, 2005
