"Measuring the Spin of a Supermassive Black Hole Using Wobbling Stellar Material"

TL;DR Summary
Astronomers have developed a new method to measure the spin of a supermassive black hole by tracking the wobbling aftermath of a tidal disruption event. By observing the pattern of X-ray flashes emitted from the accretion disk of a nearby black hole, the team determined that the black hole was spinning at less than 25 percent the speed of light. This groundbreaking approach could be used to gauge the spins of hundreds of black holes in the local universe, shedding light on their evolution over time.
Topics:science#astronomy#black-hole#spin-measurement#supermassive-black-hole#tidal-disruption-event#wobbling-stellar-material
- Using wobbling stellar material, astronomers measure the spin of a supermassive black hole for the first time Phys.org
- Churning spacetime and destroyed stars help reveal how fast supermassive black holes spin Space.com
- Astronomers Just Calculated The Spin Speed of a Supermassive Black Hole ScienceAlert
- Groundbreaking Measurement Reveals a Black Hole Spinning at a Quarter the Speed of Light Gizmodo
- Supermassive Black Hole's Spin Measured For The First Time With Destroyed Star IFLScience
Reading Insights
Total Reads
1
Unique Readers
13
Time Saved
6 min
vs 7 min read
Condensed
94%
1,350 → 86 words
Want the full story? Read the original article
Read on Phys.org