
Followup on the star torn apart by a black hole: Hubble picture  - wglb
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/04/07/followup-on-the-star-torn-apart-by-a-black-hole-hubble-picture/
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swombat
Back when I studied astrophysics at uni, I also found that the sheer scale of
events like supernovaes, black holes, and other similar things, was just mind-
boggling and fascinating. So I can totally relate to the author's excitement!

What happens when stars go "boom" in some way is just insanely huge compared
to anything we're familiar with.

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atldev
I'm fascinated by the way physicists are able to blend experimental data with
theory to explain what that little dot probably means.

Makes me think of some guy like Feynman sitting in a room with others thinking
up and arguing over accretion discs, tides, and how much solar units of mass
_that_ black hole must have.

We've come a long way since Copernicus and still have so very far to go.

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ajtaylor
This proves once again, and on an immense scale I can't even begin to
comprehend, that Mother Nature will always win.

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iwwr
The key part:

 _As it happens, the disk that formed around the black hole was face-on to us,
so one of those beams was essentially aimed directly at us._

Anyone know just how focused these beams are?

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teamonkey
IIRC it depends on the black hole. Right now there isn't a precise formula for
it.

The breakup of the star would form an accretion disc, the jets would form at
the axis of rotation. The formation of the jets are classically mechanical
(conservation of angular momentum by various means) and so the focus of the
jet depends on the speed of the matter being ejected, the amount of matter
being ejected and the mass of the black hole.

Moreover, the matter falling into the black hole is heated to plasma level and
so there is very strong magnetic activity. As the accretion disc spins, the
magnetic field lines twist along the axis of rotation - the same axis as the
ejected matter. This has the upshot of focusing the jets very tightly.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole#Accretion_of_matter>

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zokier
Octillions, trillions, billions, and a dot in my screen.

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antidaily
Only visible because the ripped apart star particles created "the light of a
_trillion_ suns"!!

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cal5k
I am both amused and slightly fearful that the blog for Discover Magazine
would use "embiggen" in lieu of enlarge.

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scrame
I don't see why, its a perfectly cromulent word.

[
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromulent#Embiggen_and_cromulen...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromulent#Embiggen_and_cromulent)
]

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dr_
This certainly can't bode well for the planets that sun supported.

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Splines
A GRB plays an important part in the novel Diaspora by Greg Egan. I'd
recommend it if you're interested in learning what would actually happen were
we to be closer. (Without being a trained astrophysicist, the events in the
novel seemed plausible, so I assume Mr. Egan did his homework).

~~~
JonnieCache
Just read this book. One of the most mind-melting things I've ever read. Every
other page introduces a new concept even more staggering than the last. It
deserves its own thread here to be honest.

It's about a posthuman society's reaction to a GRB in their vicinity, and its
basically one long thought experiment about the various consequences of the
human race abandoning corporeal existence.

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grovulent
My god - it's full of... star

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mrleinad
Mayan prophecie, anyone?

