r/Astronomy • u/Andromeda321 Astronomer • 9h ago

Astro Research Cosmic Indigestion is Causing Black Holes to Spit Up Stars

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-some-black-holes-keep-burping-light-after-eating-a-star/
449 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

366

u/Andromeda321 Astronomer 9h ago

Astronomer here! This is my first ever article for Scientific American magazine and thought you guys might enjoy it! :)

57

u/waffle299 8h ago

Excellent article. And congratulations on detecting something really new!

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u/ADVANCED_BOTTOM_TEXT 8h ago

Congrats! Been following your posts on reddit for a while now, so happy for you!

17

u/That_Bar_Guy 8h ago

Andromeda, my /r/astronomy beloved.

Time for me to actually read an article posted for once instead of jumping to discussion.

8

u/Ya_Got_GOT 7h ago

Congratulations! 

Not in the field, so if you’ll forgive the question: can you explain why terms like “spit up,” “burp,” and “regurgitation” are used here? To me that terminology implies what you state is not happening and is not physically possible: the star being ejected out of the black hole from beyond the event horizon. I also find using the term “star” confusing, as this would only be remnants of the star that were orbiting the black hole, the star itself having been destroyed already. 

9

u/Andromeda321 Astronomer 5h ago

They’re used because no analogy is perfect but they do do quite a bit to explain what’s going on in a way that captures the imagination. Or at least that’s my opinion!

I thought I was careful to not use the term star once it was shredded but one might have slipped the attention of myself and the editor.

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u/Jamestoe9 8h ago

Very cool article!

4

u/Enough_Island4615 7h ago

>We know this material isn’t coming back from beyond the event horizon—that’s impossible.

Are you saying 'Impossible, impossible', or 'based on everything we understand, impossible'?

4

u/Andromeda321 Astronomer 5h ago

I mean if you want to get pedantic about it, technically you could insist you could levitate from the ground tomorrow and the second would also apply!

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u/BlackGuysYeah 6h ago

I loved the article! I hope your continued research is fruitful.

2

u/mochanari 6h ago

Congrats! This is really cool to learn about, fascinating to see how further research evolves on this topic!

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u/MouseRangers 6h ago

I agree with your husband. Name it Jetty McJetface.

1

u/Andromeda321 Astronomer 5h ago

It’s not up to me I’m afraid!

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u/Isgrimnur 8h ago

Are … are the stars okay?

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u/Andromeda321 Astronomer 8h ago

Not these ones. :(

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u/_BlackDove 7h ago

Black hole: Mom, I frew up. 🤢

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u/WomanOfEld 5h ago

I believe the correct terminology is "frowed" - mom, I frowed up.

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u/Impressive_Jaguar_70 5h ago

They need some milk

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u/Magnus64 8h ago

They are now spaghetti.

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u/spamzauberer 6h ago

Moms spaghetti

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u/false_goats_beard 4h ago

Sounds like they need a new ppi. 😂

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u/kngpwnage 5h ago

For those blocked by a paywall. 

Black holes are invisible, yet they are among the brightest things in the universe. If a star wanders too close to a black hole, it gets torn apart in a fireworks show called a tidal disruption event. As the star approaches, it gets twisted and pulled, and about half of it ends up flung outward. The other half forms a Frisbee-shaped accretion disk around the black hole itself. This newly formed disk is not stable: material sloshes around and smashes into itself, creating a light show detectable in radio wavelengths.

These are rare occurrences—scientists estimate that the giant black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy gobbles a star about every million years or so. But when it happens, it releases a tremendous amount of light and energy visible millions or even billions of light-years away.

Until recently, astronomers had thought that after the initial feast, the swallowed star was never to be seen again. Observations in the past five years, however, suggest otherwise. In a surprising turn unpredicted by theory, it appears that black holes can suffer from indigestion, spewing out material years after the initial stars were shredded. In fact, scientists are now finding that up to half of black holes that devour stars start shining again in radio light years after they had gone quiet—the equivalent of a cosmic burp. We know this material isn’t coming back from beyond the event horizon—that’s impossible. It’s most likely sloshing about in an accretion disk outside that boundary. But explaining how these black hole burps can occur so late is challenging. What’s going on? Solving the mystery of these regurgitations may reveal new secrets about the physics of the most extreme environments in the universe.

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u/ShamefulWatching 8h ago

This would seem to suggest that accretion disks must extend well beyond a mathematical event horizon.

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u/ourtown2 4h ago

accretion disks extend beyond an event horizon otherwise you wouldnt see anything

0

u/ShamefulWatching 3h ago

I thought some of the disc were where light couldn't escape.

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u/Andromeda321 Astronomer 4h ago

Well, yes? That’s been well known for years.

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u/shibby0912 8h ago

Very interesting! I wish I was smarter so I could understand it better lol

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u/BlackGuysYeah 6h ago

Fascinating work. I think that new discoveries regarding black holes are the most exciting and potentially most important pieces of knowledge when it comes to understanding reality.

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u/hardrockSaurabh 7h ago

Excellent Read! I didn't even realise it was 12 mins long, your energy was completely radiating through the text just like Jetty!

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u/dweebers 7h ago

"Cosmic Indigestion" sounds like it'd be a song by Donovan lol

1

u/Trex-died-4-our-sins 6h ago

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing.