spacetoday.net: Astronomers witness birth of black hole

Astronomers witness birth of black hole

Posted: Tue, Nov 16, 2010, 7:11 AM ET (1211 GMT)
SN 1979c location in M100 (NASA)

Astronomers announced Monday that they have detected evidence of a black hole forming in the remnants of a supernova that took place just 30 years ago. Observations of the remnants of supernova SN 1979C by NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, as well as ESA's XMM-Newton and Germany's ROSAT spacecraft, detected a bright source of x-rays in the remnant that has remained constant since the mid-1990s. Astronomers believe the x-rays come from material spiraling into a black hole created by the supernova. Another possibility, astronomers acknowledged, is that the x-rays come from a neutron star formed by the supernova; that would make this the youngest neutron star discovered. SN1979C is located in the galaxy M100 about 50 million light years away.