Black hole bully 'killing galaxy'.WASHINGTON: A "death star" galaxy is sending out a powerful jet of particles and magnetic radiation that is likely obliterating any possible life in its broad path, notably in a nearby galaxy, astrono-mers said. They said the two galaxies appear to be merging and the disturbance in the magnetic field caused by this movement may have awakened a dormant, supermassive black hole in one of the galaxies. They have images of the deadly blast, spurting out from a system known as 3C321. Data from Nasa's Chandra X-ray Observatory Chandra X-ray Observatory U.S. X-ray space telescope. It was named after astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and was launched into orbit in 1999. Its mirror, with an aperture of 1.2 m (4 ft) and a focal length of 10 m (33 ft), produces unprecedented resolution. show both galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centers, and 3C321, the larger galaxy, is emitting this stream of energy and particles. The unnamed smaller galaxy apparently has swung into the path of this jet. The astronomers agree that both galaxies are likely to have planetary systems but nothing resembling life on any planet could survive the blast. While such jets have been seen before, this is the first time one has been observed battering another galaxy, the researchers report in The Astrophysical Journal. "First its enormous gamma ray radiation field is likely to destroy the ozone layer," Dan Evans of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, who led the study, said. The magnetic field of any planet would be compressed, leaving it vulnerable to solar storms from its star. "There are tens to hundreds of millions of stars in the path. Some of those stars almost certainly have planets," said Martin Hardcastle, an astrophysicist at Britain's University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire is a modern university based largely in Hatfield, in the county of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, from which the university takes its name. It has more than 23,000 students. . "It's ... like a bully, a black hole bully, punching the nose of any passing galaxy," Neil deGrasse Tyson Neil deGrasse Tyson (b. October 5, 1958 in New York City) is an astrophysicist and, since 1996, the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History on Manhattan's Upper West Side. , director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History American Museum of Natural History, incorporated in New York City in 1869 to promote the study of natural science and related subjects. Buildings on its present site were opened in 1877. in New York, said. There is no need to worry about this death ray hitting Earth - the galaxies are 1.4 billion light years away - a light year being the distance light travels in a year, or about 10 trillion km. Several telescopes were used to build a picture of the violent event, including the Chandra observatory, Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the first large optical orbiting observatory. Built from 1978 to 1990 at a cost of $1.5 billion, the HST (named for astronomer E. P. Hubble) was expected to provide the clearest view yet obtained of the universe. , and Spitzer Space Telescope Spitzer Space Telescope: see infrared astronomy; observatory, orbiting. , as well as Earthbound earth·bound also earth-bound adj. 1. Fastened in or to the soil: earthbound roots. 2. a. observatories such as the Very Large Array telescope in New Mexico and Britain's Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer interferometer: see interference under Interference as a Scientific Tool. See also virtual telescope. An instrument that measures the wavelengths of light and distances. Network or MERLIN telescopes. Such jets from black holes have been seen before, and they produce high amounts of radiation, especially high-energy X-rays and gamma-rays. It is not clear why the larger galaxy started shooting out these deadly rays. Copyright [c] 2008 Gulf Daily News Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |
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