Large X-Ray as Sagitarius A* spits

Bill Boddy

Professional layabout
Contributor
The supermassive black hole at the centre of our Milky Way has recently spat out an enormous X-ray blast. It is possible that it was due to an asteroid getting too close and being sucked into the black hole; this may have given it a touch of indegestion.

http://www.space.com/28193-monster-black-hole-largest-flare-ever.html

"It's also plausible that the flare was the product of Sgr A* having a snack. An asteroid or other object may have come too close to the black hole, ripping it apart. The debris would have accelerated rapidly and potentially radiated a bright burst of X-rays."
 
It was viewed two years ago, why has it just become News now ?
If Sag A * has just had a snack, maybe it's about to wake up and start feeding. Then we will see some X Ray emissions.
:o
 
I'm presuming X-rays travel at the same speed as light so if the images are just getting here presumably the effects of the radiation will just be arriving as well. Looks like the football on Sky might be off this weekend then.
 
Incubus I am aware that "we" can't actually see X-rays without specialist astronomical equipment. I didn't think I needed to spell it out !
:(
 
I'm presuming X-rays travel at the same speed as light
X rays are part of the electromagnetic spectrum another part of this same spectrum is the visible bit we call light, microwaves that bounce around your kitchen appliance heating up your food is also part the electromagnetic spectrum as is UV, Infrared and Gamma radiation and so your presumption is probably correct...
 
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It is, of course, not a simple affair. The universe is expanding at a great rate so light has to travel further to get to us, so it takes longer to get here; eventually it will be expanding faster than the speed of light, hence any light setting off for us will never get here. All the stars will gradually disappear (but not this week).
 
That's the age-old question isn't it. Everything we can detect and observe is governed by a number of laws of physics which are actually quite simple. It's the results and the way they interact which are difficult to understand.
With one notable exception: black holes. Inside the event of horizon of black holes is where the laws of physics break down completely and things no longer make any sense.

Who's to say our entire universe itself isn't... inside a black hole?....
 
Now a black hole that is 12 billion times larger than the sun has been discovered. There are problems due to it having been too early in the history of the universe for it to have grown at the speed it has.

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/astronomers-giant-black-hole-early-013116165.html#dB9d7G3

Why is it that when we get artist's impressions of these they are always disk shaped? I would have expected them to be sort of round ball shaped. Or maybe the universe is only two dimensional after all.
 
I suppose they are based on what we know from observation of our planetary system, all ring systems are disc shaped. So black hole accretionary material is depicted the same way. But I would have thought your ball shape was more than likely.
 
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