Wednesday 8 June 2016

Independent Learning Log 3 by Josh Teo

Date: 9/6/16

Source:BBC Knowledge

What I did:
I read up on a BBC Knowledge and found an interesting article about gas clouds and supermassive black holes.

What I learnt+summary:
Black holes form when a star collapses. Inside them are space and time cease to exist. Gravity in them is so strong within them that nothing can escape it, not even light, thus, astronomers cannot directly observe a black hole.

A gas cloud known as G2 was spotted in 2011. This gas cloud was seen visibly moving towards the position of the black whole, and has been moving since 2002. It became larger in 2014 than 2004, meaning that it was orbiting the black hole. This black whole is known as Sagittarius A, and is in fact, a supermassive black hole, which is 4 million times heavier than the sun. However, not all of the cloud will be "consumed" by the supermassive black hole. No one is sure of what will happen next, though the falling gas is expected to emit X-rays as it is pulled out of our universe and never to be seen again.

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