So today I learned that we have the ability to notice when a single star (possibly) disappears from a galaxy 75 million light years away. A small thing, but also a rather wonderful example of what we're capable of.
The possible disappearance of a massive star in the galaxy PHL 293B
11–20 of 52 posts
Re: The possible disappearance of a massive star in the galaxy PHL 293B
#12To provide a little bit of context for this work, one of the open questions in astronomy is how core collapse supernovae work. Computational scientists have struggled for a long time to get simulations of core collapse to explode. Typically to get an explosion they have to artificially insert a "piston" somewhere in the system that kicks the system outwards during the collapse and triggers the shock wave. Over maybe…
Could you point to any laymanish articles or media that talks about the non-supernova fate? My knowledge about supernovae, black holes and neutron stars all come from youtube channels ( eg. https://youtu.be/RZkR9zdUv-E ) and they make it sound like inevitable ends for massive stars, because once the neutron star forms the sudden vacuum created by the compacted neutrons makes all the matter around it collapse on it and rebound. Why is that not plausible ?
Re: The possible disappearance of a massive star in the galaxy PHL 293B
#13LBV = Luminous blue variable https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_blue_variable
Re: The possible disappearance of a massive star in the galaxy PHL 293B
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
IANAP and this could be a bit of a stretch, but could the disappearance of the star been caused by the completion of a Dyson sphere around it?
If you are into these kinds of mysteries, I highly recommend reading Pandora's Star by Peter F Hamilton. (even more so if you want to spend a few days reading this epic space opera)
Warning: he writes huge tomes. They're far too long. The first I read was fun, the second a slog. There won't be a third.
Re: The possible disappearance of a massive star in the galaxy PHL 293B
#15To provide a little bit of context for this work, one of the open questions in astronomy is how core collapse supernovae work. Computational scientists have struggled for a long time to get simulations of core collapse to explode. Typically to get an explosion they have to artificially insert a "piston" somewhere in the system that kicks the system outwards during the collapse and triggers the shock wave. Over maybe…
Could you point to any laymanish articles or media that talks about the non-supernova fate? My knowledge about supernovae, black holes and neutron stars all come from youtube channels ( eg. https://youtu.be/RZkR9zdUv-E ) and they make it sound like inevitable ends for massive stars, because once the neutron star forms the sudden vacuum created by the compacted neutrons makes all the matter around it collapse on it an…
It’s totally plausible.
But if the core of your star is sufficiently massive then the initial collapse takes it over the Chandrasekhar limit & it forms a black hole immediately. Then the rest of the stellar material just falls into it.
The fine details vary depending on mass, composition & spin of the rest of the material: if the star is spinning fast enough an accretion disk might form and drive jets which is one possible method of generating a GRB.
Re: The possible disappearance of a massive star in the galaxy PHL 293B
#16So they hypothesize it either collapsed to a black hole without supernova or stopped fusion. They don't mention it might just might have been swallowed by black hole.
Re: The possible disappearance of a massive star in the galaxy PHL 293B
#17Starjacking?
Re: The possible disappearance of a massive star in the galaxy PHL 293B
#18So they hypothesize it either collapsed to a black hole without supernova or stopped fusion. They don't mention it might just might have been swallowed by black hole.
Wouldn't that be a slow process?
Re: The possible disappearance of a massive star in the galaxy PHL 293B
#19Sometimes astrologists make me smile: > important sources of ionizing photons Nothing better than a morning with cereal, milk and ionized photons. Wikipedia says that LVB often form clouds around them from their violent outbursts that are sometimes miss-classified as supernovae. We will probably have to wait if it pops up again.
Sometimes astrologists make me smile
Nothing makes astronomers smile more than being called astrologists.
Re: The possible disappearance of a massive star in the galaxy PHL 293B
#20Sometimes astrologists make me smile: > important sources of ionizing photons Nothing better than a morning with cereal, milk and ionized photons. Wikipedia says that LVB often form clouds around them from their violent outbursts that are sometimes miss-classified as supernovae. We will probably have to wait if it pops up again.
Sometimes astrologists make me smile Nothing makes astronomers smile more than being called astrologists.
Oops... well, they share the same hobbies and with such colleagues they never have to buy any fortune cookies.