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Black holes are the most mysterious entities in the universe. The space-time region has a gravitational acceleration so strong that nothing, even light, can escape. And NASA, the US space agency, directly observed for the first time the almost impossible power of a black hole, after detecting a neutron star devoured by a black hole.
This historic moment was marked by a "ring" of gravitational waves waving in the universe.
Detection was carried out by LIGO (gravitational wave interferometer) detectors in the United States and by the Virgo detector in Italy.
And if confirmed, the observation will provide the first evidence that black holes and neutron stars can be associated in binary systems.
It is hoped that the data will determine if the neutron star was torn before crossing the horizon of the black hole events or if it was sucked up transparently in a process of annihilation.
Professor Patrick Brady, spokesperson for the LIGO collaboration, revealed that more in-depth analysis was needed before the team could be convinced that the April 26 event would be real.
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"It's like listening to someone whispering a word in a busy cafe, it can be hard to tell or even to be sure the person is whispering.
"It will take some time to reach a conclusion about this candidate."
Professor Brady estimated at 14% the risk that observations are a problem.
LIGO and Virgo are able to detect tiny ripples in the space-time structure that cross the cosmos when two massive objects collide.
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The possible detection only happens a day after LIGO and Virgo identified a cataclysmic fusion of two neutron stars for the second time only.
And since the start of their third campaign of observation is the beginning of this month, the detectors have also identified three black hole mergers.
Neutron stars are the smallest and densest stars, with a teaspoon of neutron star material and a mass of one billion tonnes.
These are the collapsed remains of giant stars, after a supernova explosion – even more massive stars form black holes.
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When two neutron stars collide, they send not only gravitational waves, but also light. Therefore, if astronomers are able to rotate their optical telescopes to the sky on the right, they can also capture the explosive consequences in the form of light waves.
Detecting a radiation flash could reveal crucial details about the size of the objects and the nature of the fusion.
The largest black holes are surprisingly the least dense and the gravitational force at the edge of these objects is less fierce. A neutron star colliding with a very big black hole could simply disappear.
Professor Alberto Vecchio, director of the Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy at the University of Birmingham, said: "The neutron star would plunge into the water and nothing would happen, that's all.
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