Unusual supernovae may reveal intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters

User rating: 4.3 / 5 after 22 vote(s)

This series of images shows the interaction of a white dwarf star with a black hole. As it passes the black hole the white dwarf becomes strongly compressed and heated (top left) triggering an explosion. Most of the stellar mass is ejected into space ...
This series of images shows the interaction of a white dwarf star with a black hole. As it passes the black hole, the white dwarf becomes strongly compressed and heated (top left), triggering an explosion. Most of the stellar mass is ejected into space (the "bubble" in the upper right part of the debris in the top right image), while the rest (the cusp-like part of the image) falls toward the black hole. While the ejected matter expands rapidly, the infalling matter builds a violent, thick accretion disk around the black hole.

A strange and violent fate awaits a white dwarf star that wanders too close to a moderately massive black hole. According to a new study, the black hole's gravitational pull on the white dwarf would cause tidal forces sufficient to disrupt the stellar remnant and reignite nuclear burning in it, giving rise to a supernova explosion with an unusual appearance. Observations of such supernovae could confirm the existence of intermediate-mass black holes, currently the subject of much debate among astronomers.


Full story »
All News summaries from Space & Earth science news
All News summaries for January 29, 2008
Goto Archive PhysOrg Forum Goto Archive Video Goto Archive Editorials Goto Archive Free Magazines Goto Archive Newsletter

News Archive