spacetoday.net: space news from around the webin association with SpaceNews


Astronomers prove existence of black hole event horizon
Posted: Tue, Jan 10, 2006, 7:36 AM ET (1236 GMT)
Black hole event horizon (NASA/Dana Berry) Astronomers said Monday that they have proven the existence of the event horizon, the "point of no return" that surrounds black holes. An MIT and Harvard team said they showed the existence of the event horizon, which by its nature is invisible, by looking for X-ray bursts from neutron stars and more compact objects thought to be black holes. The bursts, triggered when gas from nearby stars accumulates on the surface and explodes, are easily seen for neutron stars, but not for the black hole candidates. Astronomers interpreted the lack of x-ray busts from the black hole candidates as a sign that gas "disappeared" by passing across the object's event horizon, where gravity is so strong that the escape velocity exceeds the speed of light.
<<previous article   next article>>
news in brief

SpaceX launches Indonesia communications satellite
Posted: Sun, Sep 14 4:07 AM ET (0807 GMT)

Soyuz launches Progress cargo spacecraft to ISS
Posted: Sun, Sep 14 4:06 AM ET (0806 GMT)

news links
Monday, September 15
SpaceX Launches Northrop Grumman Cargo Ship To ISS
Aviation Week — 1:18 am ET (0518 GMT)
SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral on Sunday
WESH-TV Orlando — 1:18 am ET (0518 GMT)


about spacetoday.net   ·   info@spacetoday.net   ·   mailing list