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Scientists discover newly born black hole

Scientists discover newly-born black hole

By Press Trust of India | Updated: 5 June 2012 02:22 IST

Highlights

Astronomers have discovered what they say is a newly born black hole lurking in a nearby galaxy some 50 million light years from Earth. The scientists who detected the unique cosmic event believe that the black hole was created just 30 years ago by a supe

Astronomers have discovered what they say is a newly born black hole lurking in a nearby galaxy some 50 million light years from Earth.

The scientists who detected the unique cosmic event believe that the black hole was created just 30 years ago by a supernova, or an exploding star.

The explosion of the star on edge of a galaxy called M100 was first observed by an amateur astronomer in 1979, but it took decades of observation to confirm it had become a black hole.

The scientists, who detected the black hole steadily consuming the gassy remnants of the exploded star, hoped that it would provide clues about the formation of the celestial objects and the death of stars, the Daily Mail reported.

Black holes are warped regions in space where it is so dense that nothing - not even light - escapes.

This black hole is about five times more massive than our sun and the star that exploded to give it birth was maybe 20 times bigger than our sun.

"If our interpretation is correct, this is the nearest example where the birth of a black hole has been observed," said Daniel Patnaude from Harvard University who helped lead the study.

Analysis of the images, captured by the Chandra X-Ray space telescope, supported the idea that the object is a black hole and that it is either being fed by material falling back from an initial supernova, or perhaps from a twin star, the astronomers said.

According to the scientists, black holes can be formed in a number of ways - in this case by a star about 20 times the mass of our Sun going supernova and then collapsing into an object so dense that it sucks surrounding material into its core.

Harvard University astrophysicist Avi Loeb said: "It's the first time we're seeing a black hole being born in a normal supernova.

"We're able to learn about environments that cannot be reproduced in the lab and can only be observed in the universe."

While black holes are seen throughout the universe, it is unusual to witness one from near birth that "evolves and changes into its youthful stages", said Weaver.

By continuing to follow the black hole - which is about 50 million light years away - future astronomers will learn just how much material is left over from the star's explosion, said Patnaude.

This is certainly eating as much as it can," Patnaude said. "This is working as hard as it can to gobble up that material, exactly like a teenager or a toddler."

There is one other possible explanation for what scientists have seen: they could be watching the birth instead of a pulsar wind nebula, like the famous and beautiful crab nebula.

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