Astronomers have lately bring out that P13 , a minuscule grim hole about 12 million light geezerhood away on the outskirts of galaxy NGC7793 , eats very quickly . In fact , P13 is stripping material away from a nearby ace about ten fourth dimension faster than was previously believed to be physically possible . The research was led by Christian Motch from the University of Strasbourg , and the paper was publish inNature .
As black holes devour stars , the gas heats up and yield off light . P13 was throw off quite a bit of luminance , giving astronomers the impression that it was a very large opprobrious hole . Because they initially believed it was much big than it is , it was n’t viewed as odd at first ,
" It was broadly speaking believed the maximum velocity at which a pitch-dark hole could swallow gas and grow light was tightly determined by its sizing , " said co - author Roberto Soria of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research ( ICRAR ) in apress release . " So it made signified to assume that P13 was bigger than the ordinary , less shiny contraband holes we see in our own galaxy , the Milky Way . ”
Further analysis revealed that though P13 is a million meter brighter than our Sun , it really is n’t much more massive . Soria ’s squad revealed flaws in the theory that a black hole ’s mass and rate of consumption is a fixed family relationship .
They find that the black hole is in a binary system with a virtuoso 20 time more massive than our Sun . As P13 orbits and strips away material , the heated gas create bright spots around the star that move as the black golf hole move . These vivid X - light beam patches allowed astronomers to get over P13 ’s movements and learn more about its size and sizeable appetite .
" This countenance us to measure the time it takes for the black hole and the donor lead to turn out around each other , which is 64 days , and to model the velocity of the two aim and the shape of the celestial orbit , ” Soria explained . " From this , we worked out that the black pickle must be less than 15 multiplication the pile of our Sun . ”
So much light can be envision shining from P13 that it joins an elect group know asultra - luminous X - ray of light sources(ULXs ) . These bodies are brighter than distinctive stellar or black hollow bodily process , though not quite as bright as an active astronomic nucleus , which is a dense region with radiation traverse almost all of the electromagnetic spectrum . Though P13 is n’t as massive as other ULXs , its appetite contribute to its incredible luminosity .
“ As hotdog - eat legendTakeru Kobayashifamously showed us , size does not always weigh in the humans of competitive feeding and even pocket-sized fateful holes can sometimes eat gun at an exceptional charge per unit , " he excogitate . " These are the champions of competitive gas corrode in the universe , subject of swallowing their donor star in less than a million years , which is a very little time on cosmic scales . ”
If P13 ’s eat use were liken to Kobayashi , the dark hole eats the combining weight of 100 billion billion raging dogs , while Kobayashi ’s title sits closer to 11 per minute of arc . That ’s tight enough toconsume the volume of the Earthin less than a year .
