#NuSTAR and its quest for #blackhole info. - http://clapway.com/2015/07/12/the-most-important-things-to-know-about-black-holes-987/

Like many other forces of nature as well as mysteries humanity has yet to explain, very little is known about black holes. Among the populace, there is much speculation about these strange anomalies. Thanks to NASA’s NuSTAR, now researchers know a little bit more about black holes. In fact, NuSTAR has found five already since its launch in 2012.

What is a black hole?

A black hole is what remains after a star that is many times bigger than our sun explodes. All the pressure that builds up from that explosion causes (what some believe to be) the core of the star, to condense into the size of a large city.

Don’t be fooled by its small size, though. Even though this core is so small, its gravitational pull is so strong, NASA says that even light cannot escape its pull.

How many black holes are there?

While it is speculated and theorized that there are a significant amount of black holes in the galaxy and universe, they are actually very difficult to find. The black holes are shrouded by dust and gases that are left over from the explosion and from everything it pulls in. And with no light emitting near the hole without getting sucked in, it is incredibly hard to find black holes. Scientists generally have to look for blank spaces where there probably should be something and estimate if there should be a black hole there.

What is this NuSTAR?

NuSTAR, or the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array is essentially a giant telescope that NASA launched into space. It uses high energy X-rays to collect data. These X-rays make it significantly easier to find black holes as it can easily penetrate through the gases and dust surrounding them. As was stated before, it has already found five. While it is indeed easier to find the black holes, scientists still need to know where to look.

What is there to be learned from black holes?

Many scientists and researchers believe that black holes will help uncover the secrets of a very illusive matter: dark matter. Dark matter is a form of matter that cannot be seen or recorded with any known type of technology. Even without being able to see it, however, scientists are sure that it is there. Unsure of what exactly it is, they have labeled it ‘dark matter’.

It was stated in the Astrophysical Journal that roughly 80% of the universe is made up of this dark matter.

Scientists hope that by learning more about black holes, they will learn more about dark matter, and in doing so, learn more about the natural order of this universe.

---

 

For more space adventures in honor of the mystery of space, check out Space Scouts?:

The Most Important Things to Know About Black Holes

Here Comes the Sun- an X-Ray Photo Extravanganza - http://clapway.com/2015/07/09/here-comes-the-sun-an-x-ray-photo-extravanganza987/

Flaring sun resembled a kaleidoscope

Once again at the National Astronomy Meeting in Llandudno, Wales, some new exciting science research and news came up. On July 7th, the NAM released a press release on the Sun with accompanying x-rays that turned into an x-ray extravaganza.

The resulting images looks like the sun turned into a quasi-kaleidoscope, with some areas of the Sun lighting up from flare activity. According to one astronomer with the University of Glasgow, Ianin Hannah, in a press release by the Royal Astronomical Society, the activity seems to be dimming down. However, the process of dimming will still be a few years coming before it reaches its minimum activity level. Perhaps a few less heat waves? Here’s to hoping.

NuSTAR captures the Sun

NuSTAR usually observes black holes and other such things, but was used to study the Sun one day. NuSTAR’s mission is to focus light on high energy x-rays, which in this case revealed areas lit up in the images to be the work of nanoflares. This tells scientists why the Sun is so much hotter on an atmospheric level, and because these nanoflares are smaller in comparison to other things that occur on the Sun, we wouldn’t normally be able to see them were it not for the x-ray images.

But because other flares occur more visibly to telescopes than the nanoflares, detecting them with the NuSTAR was difficult. However, this particular instrument finally succeeded.

Hindrance

Since the Sun is particularly active now, as evident by the solar flares hitting Earth a few weekends ago twice in one week, circumstances make it difficult to study the smaller nanoflares. This is why the dimming down in activity is a good thing. It makes for studying the nanoflares easier without the disrupting larger solar flares getting in the way. Ironically, the Sun is near the end of the quiet session in its eleven year cycle, yet still remaining really active this year.

Once the activity cools down, researchers hope to pinpoint where and how these nanoflares are produced on the Sun. Just don’t try to spot them yourself by staring at it.

---

 

Need to get around cheaply, efficiently, and amusingly? Try the Penny skateboard from Australia.

Here Comes the Sun- an X-Ray Photo Extravanganza

"According to the cinematic geniuses of our time, you either travel through space at light speed or you are transported (short cut style) to another part of the universe." - http://clapway.com/2015/06/22/3-of-the-most-interesting-black-holes-in-space/

 

When I was younger, my mom had a tradition of always taking us out into the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night to watch meteor showers, comets, and anything else you can see in the sky with the naked eye. At a young age, I knew all about the constellations and about other galaxies in the universe. You could definitely say I was a space nerd. It always reminded me how tiny and insignificant my life is compared to the vastness of the universe. It’s really a beautiful thing. However, there was one thing that always terrified me. Black holes. Not the kind that you consider your dryer to be when you come out with less socks and you put in. I’m talking planet-swallowing black holes randomly placed in outer space. For the space explorer such as myself, I’m going to tell you about three of the most interesting black holes that I’ve found in my research and how a new theory might change your perspective on them.

1. Middleweight Black Hole

An Australian telescope observed bursts of super hot gas, which inevitably lead to the discovery of the first middleweight black hole. Before it was discovered, supermassive black holes and stellar mass black holes were the only two types thought to exist. These types of black holes have been a constant mystery to astronomers for many years. The most recent discovery of one, an intermediate-mass black hole, is said to be approximately 290 million light-years from Earth. It is described as being 20,000 “solar masses” in size.

2. Rotating Black Holes

These bad boys are exactly as their name depicts them. To give you an idea of how fast they spin, the fastest one scientists have found is in the constellation of Aquila that spins more than 950 times per second.

3. Rogue Black Holes

We call a black hole “rogue” when it gets knocked out of their original location, usually due to galaxy collision. The first known one of these space ninjas is said to be approximately 600 million times the size of the sun. It is believed that in our galaxy alone, there could be hundreds of rogue black holes roaming around.

They are the age-old natural nemesis in space: Black holes. Infamous for what dangers might lurk within them, or on the other side of them. They are one of space exploration’s greatest mysteries, and a topic that I have always been curious about. NASA has dedicated resources specifically to the exploration of black holes. They come in all different shapes and sizes, a very different thought from the original idea that there were only the three general sizes; small, medium, and large. So the big question is always: what happens if we get sucked in?

According to the cinematic geniuses of our time, you either travel through space at light speed or you are transported (short cut style) to another part of the universe. As cool as both of these ideas sound, it’s very unlikely. Recently, a paper was presented in a space conference in Paris that suggested looking at black holes from a completely different perspective; not that looking at them in any perspective was easy in the first place!

A professor at Ohio State University, Samir Mathur, has dubbed black holes “Fuzzballs,” and claims that what happens when you get close to one is not like what happens in the movies. He says that the surface of the hole destroys your body (if you were floating through space and got close to one) and basically makes a hologram of it and it is forever stuck in the outer layer of the “Fuzzball.” He has dubbed them so because he thinks that they are a thin, fuzzy layer of space, which differs from the typical sooth layer that we all know and love. I think naming them something so cute sounding definitely takes away from the menacing fact that they could make a hologram of our lifeless bodies forever to be embedded in space.

---

 

Tailored for children, Space Scouts Summer Adventure is your start to a most interesting summer for:

 

3 of the Most Interesting Black Holes in Space