<p>Astrosat, the Indian space telescope, has found a new, interesting feature about an enigmatic black hole that could help scientists unravel some of the mysteries about the cosmic monster.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Located at a distance of 40,000 light years (one light year is 9 trillion km) in the constellation of Aquila, the black hole is part of a two-star system, both of which are extremely hot, radiating several types of high-energy rays.<br /><br />Using the Astrosat data, Indian astronomers identified some peculiarity in the high-energy or hard X-ray release pattern that could eventually lead to a better understanding of the black hole — the dying phase of a heavyweight star, which is too heavy even for light to escape, making them black.<br /><br />Black holes are one of the most esoteric and widely studied astronomical objects.<br />The existing fleet of space telescopes could not see this oddity, picked up by the instruments on board the Astrosat, which was launched in September 2015.<br /><br />“We made the discovery with only nine hours of Astrosat observation. The telescope will be in space for the next 5-10 years and can generate more valuable scientific information,” Ranjeev Misra, an astrophysicist at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, who is part of the team that made the discovery told DH.<br /><br />Besides the IUCAA scientists, researchers from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; University of Mumbai and Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru, are also part of the group.<br /><br />The black hole is part of a binary star system known as GRS 1915+105 which consists of a regular star and a black hole. <br /><br />The regular star has a temperature of about 6000 degrees Kelvin. The black hole strips matter from the star to form an accretion disc whose temperature is about 100 million Kelvin.<br /><br />“The system was 50,000 times more luminous than our sun. Yet just like a flickering candle, the strength of the X-ray emission changes in one-fifth of a millisecond. This has never been seen before,” Misra said. The two-star system was discovered way back in 1992 and observed by many scientists through different telescopic windows so far.<br /><br />“The discovery may help understand new aspects of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and probe the space-time around the black hole,” he said. The findings are accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal.</p>
<p>Astrosat, the Indian space telescope, has found a new, interesting feature about an enigmatic black hole that could help scientists unravel some of the mysteries about the cosmic monster.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Located at a distance of 40,000 light years (one light year is 9 trillion km) in the constellation of Aquila, the black hole is part of a two-star system, both of which are extremely hot, radiating several types of high-energy rays.<br /><br />Using the Astrosat data, Indian astronomers identified some peculiarity in the high-energy or hard X-ray release pattern that could eventually lead to a better understanding of the black hole — the dying phase of a heavyweight star, which is too heavy even for light to escape, making them black.<br /><br />Black holes are one of the most esoteric and widely studied astronomical objects.<br />The existing fleet of space telescopes could not see this oddity, picked up by the instruments on board the Astrosat, which was launched in September 2015.<br /><br />“We made the discovery with only nine hours of Astrosat observation. The telescope will be in space for the next 5-10 years and can generate more valuable scientific information,” Ranjeev Misra, an astrophysicist at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, who is part of the team that made the discovery told DH.<br /><br />Besides the IUCAA scientists, researchers from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; University of Mumbai and Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru, are also part of the group.<br /><br />The black hole is part of a binary star system known as GRS 1915+105 which consists of a regular star and a black hole. <br /><br />The regular star has a temperature of about 6000 degrees Kelvin. The black hole strips matter from the star to form an accretion disc whose temperature is about 100 million Kelvin.<br /><br />“The system was 50,000 times more luminous than our sun. Yet just like a flickering candle, the strength of the X-ray emission changes in one-fifth of a millisecond. This has never been seen before,” Misra said. The two-star system was discovered way back in 1992 and observed by many scientists through different telescopic windows so far.<br /><br />“The discovery may help understand new aspects of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity and probe the space-time around the black hole,” he said. The findings are accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal.</p>
