Scientists detect a black hole swallowing a neutron star | Space

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Artist's concept of a scene that could occur when a black hole and a neutron star meet, in a very distant galaxy. Image via ANU.

Scientists announced today (August 19, 2019) that they thought they had detected a black hole swallowing a neutron star. These two objects represent the super-dense remains of dead stars. In this case, they reside 900 million light years away from our galaxy of the Milky Way – so we know that their meeting took place 900 million years ago. It took all these years for the gravitational waves – spatial and temporal ripples created during their meeting – to go to Earth, to be finally detected on Wednesday, August 14, 2019, via a trio of gravitational wave detectors. United States and North America. Italy.

Scientists seem excited by this detection. Write in Science On August 16, 2019, Andrew Cho stated:

Gravitational hunters may have already spotted their most exotic career. On August 14 at 5:10:39 EDT, a trio of gigantic detectors in the United States and Italy detected a pulse of gravitational waves – ripples in space itself – apparently triggered by the formation of a black hole and a neutron star about 900 million light-years away. Observers had previously spotted many black hole mergers and a fusion of neutron stars, but never a combination. The new discovery could provide new information about neutron stars, made up of the densest matter in the cosmos.

The August 14 gravitational wave detections were conducted by the Advanced Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), consisting of two gravitational wave detectors located in the United States, as well as the Virgo Detector of the United States. European Observatory of gravitation in Italy.

There is every reason to believe that black holes sometimes swallow neutron stars, just as they could swallow anything that comes too close. Gravitational waves indicate that Something What happened and the analysis suggests masses for melting objects, aligned with those of black holes and neutron stars. Susan Scott, who heads the group of The Theory of General Relativity and Data Analysis at the Australian National University, participated in the analysis. In a statement released on August 19, 2019, Scott stated:

About 900 million years ago, this black hole ate a very dense star, called a neutron star, like Pac-man, which probably smothered the star instantly.

So LIGO and Virgo both picked up signals on August 14th when a black hole was merged with a neutron star (if so). Scott looked confident to say that this latest detection completed a set of three observations on the initial wish list of these scientists: black holes with black holes, neutron stars with neutron stars and now a black hole with stars with neutrons. She added that there was no visual confirmation of the black hole / neutron star fusion, despite the fact that:

The ANU SkyMapper telescope [an automated wide-field survey telescope ] responded to the detection alert and scanned the entire probable area from the space where the event occurred …

And she added that scientists were still analyzing the data to confirm the exact size of the two objects, but early results indicate a very high probability that a black hole envelops a neutron star. The final results should be published in scientific journals. Scott explained:

Scientists have never detected a black hole lower than five solar masses or a neutron star greater than about 2.5 times the mass of our sun.

With this experience, we are convinced that we have just detected a black hole engulfing a neutron star.

However, there is a slight but intriguing possibility that the object swallowed is a very light black hole, much lighter than any other black hole known in the universe. It would be a consolation prize really impressive.

What do we know about black star / neutron star fusion? One way to study them from Earth is to create simulations, like this one, via Extreme Extreme Weather Simulation (CC BY-NC 3) / Science.

Conclusion: For the first time, scientists have detected gravitational waves resulting from a collision between a black hole and a neutron star.

Via ANU