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Welcome back, I'm Lisa and this
week on NASA Now we're going
to learn more about one of
our newest cosmic neighbors.
Before we get to that,
let's find out what else
is happening at NASA NOW!
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NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space
Telescope has unveiled an
unknown structure
centered in the Milky Way.
The feature spans 50
thousand light-years
and may be the remnant
of an eruption
from a super-sized black hole
at the center of our galaxy.
This object looks like a pair
of bubbles extending above
and below our galaxy's center.
Each lobe is 25,000
light-years tall
and the whole structure may be
only a few million years old.
NOW, let's take a
look back at the past!
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[ Mission Control ]
We have booster ignition
and lift off...
[ Announcer ]
July 23, 1999 Space Shuttle
Columbia was launched
with the 55 thousand pound
Chandra X-Ray Observatory
on board.
This was the heaviest payload a
space shuttle had ever lifted.
The Chandra X-Ray Observatory
is the most powerful
and most sensitive X-ray
telescope ever launched.
It has given astronomers and
astrophysicists the ability
to see objects previously
not seen,
expanding their insight
into the cosmos.
Black holes, what are they
and why are scientists
so Interested?
You've probably seen
movies or heard reports
but what's the real story
on these mysterious
phenomena we call Black Holes.
Here to fill us in with
an overview of black holes
and his team's recent discovery
is Dr. Daniel Patnaude,
Astrophysicist
at the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics.
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My name is Daniel
Patnaude, people call me Dan.
I'm an astrophysicist
for the Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory.
Unlike the Hubble
Space Telescope,
which looks at the
universe in optical light,
which is the light that you
and I see on a daily basis.
The Chandra x-ray telescope is
looking for x-rays that come
from the very hottest
and most energetic things
in our universe, such as, black
holes, colliding galaxies,
exploded stars anything
that produces very
energetic processes.
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What was discovered recently
was that Supernova 1979C,
which was a supernova that
exploded in the year 1979
and it was the third supernova.
We found that the x-ray emission
from this particular object
remained remarkably constant
over the thirty years
of its lifetime.
The fact that is
was constant meant
that it was probably a
black hole at the center
of this supernova and it was
sort of hoovering up some
of the material that
was around it.
If this were just a
supernova that had exploded
into the surrounding material,
its brightness would
have decreased with time.
What we are looking at in this
particular case is the youngest
nearby black hole.
There are several reasons
why this particular discovery
is important.
The first is, we know that
stars explode and we know
that when a star
explodes, particularly
when a star collapses on
itself and then explodes;
there are two types of
things that can form.
The first is called
a neutron star.
The second thing that
can form is a black hole
and what happens then is
that this very small object,
this neutron star, continues
to be crushed under the weight
of the collapsing star and what
happens is the neutron star
becomes a black hole.
In the movies, black holes
are portrayed to either vacuum
up everything in their vicinity
and also they are
often portrayed
to act as time machines.
And this is a misconception.
Black holes do not actively
going around actively hoovering
up the material that is nearby.
In fact, what happens is you
cross this thing called the
event horizon.
And once you cross the event
horizon, there is no chance
of escape because not even
light can escape a black hole.
Now, as far as time machines
black holes also don't act
in that way.
Something does happen
around a black hole though
which might be a
kin to time travel.
Say that you and I
were in our spaceship
and we were orbiting
happily around a black hole
and then you got into your
space capsule and got closer
to the black hole and orbited
it for a different amount
of time and then came back.
The fact that the gravity
around a black hole is
so high it actually
distorts both space and time.
We may have had the same time
on our clocks when you left,
but by the time you get
back, your clock is going
to be much slower than mine.
And some people can infer this
as time travel but
that is not true.
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If we look in our own galaxy,
we see lots and lots of things
that we think are black holes.
The problem is that we
don't know how old any
of these black holes
in our own galaxy are.
They all have to be quite old
because black holes are formed
in the deaths of stars, but
the particular black holes
that we observe in our own
galaxy are not associated
with any stellar remnants.
So, that means that
they all must be
at least a hundred
thousand years old.
In this particular case, in
79C, we are actually looking
at something that is
just when it was born.
So, we are looking at
basically an infant black hole.
And this gives us
the opportunity
to follow how it
evolves as it ages.
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Did you know that distances
in space are measured
in units called light years?
A light year is defined
as the distance light
travels in one year.
Since light travels at 300,000
km/sec, 1 light year is equal
to 9.46 trillion kilometers.
Driving a car that distance
at 60 miles per hour would
take 44.5 million years.
Now you know.
Now it's time to
check out what's up!
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Take a look at the composite
image shown on the screen.
If scientists interpretation
are correct,
SN 1979C is the nearest
location where the birth
of a black hole has
been observed.
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Today we learned that
black holes are real
and scientists are just
beginning to scratch the surface
of the black hole mystery.
Now it's your turn!
Check out this cool activity
on the NASA Explorer
Schools' Virtual Campus!
Imagine the year is 2511 and our
technology has just reached the
point where we can travel
through space and time
to take a closer
look at a black hole.
Based on what you've seen during
this NASA Now write a creative
short story documenting
an astronaut's encounter
with a black hole.
Once you're finished creating
your story, share it with NASA.
Send it to nasa-explorer-schools
@mail.nasa.gov
Well that's it for NASA NOW,
Tune in next week when we learn
about what it takes to
fly a space shuttle.
We'll see you then on NASA NOW!
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NASA NOW comes to you
from the Virtual Campus
at NASA Explorer schools.
