Black Hole Observed by X-Ray Satellite

eldavojohn writes "Scientists at JAXA and NASA used the Japanese Suzaku satellite to collect data and observations at a distance nearer to a black hole than we've ever been. From the article: 'The observations include clocking the speed of a black hole's spin rate and measuring the angle at which matter pours into the void, as well as evidence for a wall of X-ray light pulled back and flattened by gravity. The findings rely on a special feature in the light emitted close to the black hole, called the "broad iron K line," once doubted by some scientists because of poor resolution in earlier observations, now unambiguously revealed as a true measure of a black hole's crushing gravitational force.' Suzaku also has been providing images and data of super novas and their activities. It's always nice to see national space agencies working together, it almost gives me hope that the world might one day be united in space exploration."

it's a start

[mikesd81]

it almost gives me hope that the world might one day be united in space exploration."

It's a place to start. Every nation has scientists that are specialists in their own field, if we can get together and share information about space, imagine the possibilities.

Re:Seeing into a black hole?

[Anonymous Coward]

What good would worrying about a black hole do? It's not like we can push it away...

If this black hole actually emits xrays

[LiquidCoooled]

Then isn't it just a star in a different frequency?

Could we consider our own sun a Yellow hole since we cannot see into the middle of it?

The paper

[drxray]

The MCG -6-30-15 paper [arxiv.org] referred to in the press release. I don't think the MCG -5-23-16 paper has been made public yet.

The most interesting thing about the paper is that Suzaku's Hard X-ray Detector (which operates in a comparatively poorly studied waveband) is consistent (based on the model of an accretion disc around a spinning black hole) with what's happening in the softer X-ray band.

Re:Seeing into a black hole?

[MyLongNickName]

If this is your plan, then it would not matter whether it orbited or not. You could just throw it in the event horizon. Wouldn't matter.

Re:Great, now that's something else to be scared o

[nizo]

Wrong branch of science. You might try a major pharmaceutical company or your local drug dealer instead.

Re:Seeing into a black hole?

[4D6963]

You could just throw it in the event horizon

Are you sure? I thought about that and it just didn't appear obvious to me, although it would make sense, I just thought making them a binary system was a safer bet.

Re:Seeing into a black hole?

[MyLongNickName]

The momentum of the system is the same regardless of the configuration of the system..

Re:International cooperation leads to stagnation

[R3d M3rcury]

Competition got us into orbit and to the Moon.

And, once the competition was over, there was no need to go back. That's the problem with competition: Once you've won the race, it's over. You go home and rest on your laurels.

Personally, I like the idea of cooperation towards a goal. It seems to improve the chances that we'll stay awhile. Heck, ISS has been manned for something like five years.