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Credit & Copyright: DESY,
Science Communication Lab
Explanation:
What happens if a star gets too close to a black hole?
The black hole can rip it apart -- but how?
It's not the high gravitational attraction itself that's the problem -- it's the
difference in gravitational pull across the star that creates the destruction.
In the featured animated video illustrating this disintegration,
you first see a star approaching the black hole.
Increasing in orbital speed, the
star's outer atmosphere is ripped away during closest approach.
Much of the star's atmosphere disperses into deep space,
but some continues to orbit the black hole and forms an
accretion disk.
The animation
then takes you into the accretion disk while looking toward the black hole.
Including the
strange visual effects of
gravitational lensing,
you can even
see the far side of the disk.
Finally, you
look along one of the
jets being expelled along the spin axis.
Theoretical
models indicate
that these jets not only expel energetic gas, but create energetic
neutrinos -- one of which may have been
seen
recently on
Earth.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: black hole - star
Publications with words: black hole - star
See also:
- APOD: 2024 November 24 Á Journey to the Center of the Galaxy
- APOD: 2024 October 1 Á Porphyrion: The Longest Known Black Hole Jets
- APOD: 2024 June 16 Á Animation: Black Hole Destroys Star
- Simulation: Two Black Holes Merge
- The Galaxy, the Jet, and a Famous Black Hole
- APOD: 2024 May 8 Á Visualization: A Black Hole Accretion Disk
- APOD: 2024 May 7 Á Black Hole Accreting with Jet