Blackhole Pacman
By Rachel Bhagat
BY MARK MYERS/OZGRAV/SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY
The black hole (black dot) swallows the neutron star (white dot), which causes ripples in spacetime (purple waves).
This year, for the first time ever, scientists found a blackhole swallowing up a neutron star. The event caused gravitational waves that eventually reached Earth after over 900 million light-years. Scientists have typically found black holes or neutron stars colliding and merging, which have caused gravitational waves. This is the first time that scientists have found both a neutron star and a black hole merging.
Scientists spotted two types of mergers on January 5 and January 15 called the LIGO and the KAGRA. Scientists think that the black hole was significantly larger than the neutron star, which allowed it to swallow the neutron star without shredding it, because astronomers never found evidence of a neutron star being shredded. Additionally, some scientists think that LIGO was a false alarm because LIGO’s gravitational waves did not set off the two gravitational signals like KIGRA: it only set off one. Nevertheless, scientists estimate that these mergers and collisions happen about once a month in a 1 billion light-year radius from the Earth. These events could help scientists learn more about the neutron-rich material that make up dead stars.
Questions:
What implications do these events have for future space research?
Can researching these events create global cooperation? Why or why not?
How do you think technology, like the gravitational detectors, will improve to research this phenomenon?
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/gravitational-waves-ligo-first-black-hole-neutron-star-merger
Aadhya Subhash:
ReplyDeleteI definitely think observations such as these prompt technology advancements in this area, and direct it to a particular space. I really liked the discussion today.
Aditya Gollamudi
ReplyDeleteWas there a sizable and detectable increase in size of the black hole after it swallowed the neutron star?
Aditya Gollamudi
DeleteI think observations like these are super important towards the advancement of space exploration and space research. If we learn more about space then the more likely we are as humans to be able to actually explore these phenomenon through technology.
Researching these events can, and I believe already does drive global cooperation. Especially with the International Space Station being used by many countries already. I think that as more research and data is gathered in this field, that it will garner more attention and intrigue for this topic, and help create global cooperation.
ReplyDeleteAidan Ryan ^
DeleteThis was interesting to learn about! I definitely think technology will improve to research this phenomenon because we are constantly discovering and expanding our knowledge on the universe, so as more and more information is digested, scientists will alter or develop technology to finding even more. For this specifically, technology may get more sensitive to detecting neutron-rich material or maybe combining it with other technological equipment to observe this phenomenon while also watching its mass, other activity, etc.
ReplyDelete- Lucy Billadeau
I think these implications could lead to more in depth research about this topic. I also think by discovering an event like this, our community will become more involved. This could lead to further research and studies surrounding this and interest the community. As scientists do more research on this topic, I think there will be better fit technology in the future.
ReplyDelete- Tali Ucko
This blog was very interesting to learn about. I believe that these implications could lead to more in depth research which could lead to better technology in the future to help us study and predict when these phenomena will occur. I also think this finding can increase the global cooperation in astronomy and help fund more corporations to help improve technology!
ReplyDeletequestion during class: once a black hole opens, dose it just die off and it's never there again?
ReplyDeleteDue to the implications it allows us to further our space research and exploration, having countries work together and look at an event or problem together could definitely help in terms of relations. And lastly technology is our biggest friend since we can't physically sense most of what is going on due to complications.
ReplyDelete-Tyler A.
I think that the improvements to knowledge that scientists will begin to make is working on the technology and research to become more confident on whether they know if LIGO was a false alarm or not. As the scientific research continues, more and more information will be broadcasted to the public.
ReplyDelete- Jesse D.
I've always enjoyed learning more about astronomy so this blog was very interesting to read. I definitely think that rare events like these allow for scientists to collaborate and learn more about concepts that we don't know much about. I find that especially in relation to black holes we have so much yet to unpack, so dissecting the merge of a neutron star and black hole could help scientists both advance technologically while also learning more about vague topics- Lucky Payala
ReplyDeleteIniya Swaminathan
ReplyDeleteThis topic was really fascinating! I always feel like outer space and things that happen in space are almost unexplainable and impossible. This article reminded me of how powerful science and technology is. It was interesting to also hear about the neutron star because I haven't heard that term before. I think because of this event, scientists are going to want to explore space more. This will probably lead to more collaborations between scientists all over the world. And because of this, I also think that new technologies will be created.
In terms of the implications of these events, I believe that because there is still a lot to learn about stars, black holes, and mergers, there is quite a bit of incentive to pursue technology development in this area, especially due to the uncertainties of some of the information already gathered. Technology is always evolving, so if this field of study becomes a focus, then technology will definitely develop in the future for this research.
ReplyDelete-Embry Rickman
This was a really interesting topic! I think that the implications mentioned could lead to a wider variety of research which could potentially lead to researchers and scientists using better technology for their research! In addition, I think global cooperation WILL increase.
ReplyDelete