Scientists: Stars orbiting close to Milky Way’s supermassive black hole do it alone
The stars orbiting Sag A*. Click for original image.
Based on a ten year study of the motions of nine stars orbiting close to Sagittarius A* (pronounced A-star), the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, scientists have concluded that they are single stars, not binaries as would be expected.
Using W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island, Devin Chu of Hilo, an astronomer with the UCLA Galactic Center Orbits Initiative, led a 10-year survey that found these ‘S-stars,’ where ‘S’ stands for Sagittarius A*, the name of the monster black hole at our galaxy’s core, are all single.
The result is surprising given the S-stars Chu’s team observed included young, massive main-sequence stars that are only about six million years old. Normally, stars at this age that are 10 times more massive than our Sun spend their childhood years paired with a twin in a binary system, or sometimes even as triplets.
This finding suggests that the black hole’s massive gravitational field causes the binaries to be pulled apart, or somehow to merge during their formation.
This data point and the questions it raises pales before the more fundamental question that astronomers have been asking since these stars were first discovered in the 1990s: How is it possible for any stars to form so close to such a disruptive gravitational field?
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The stars orbiting Sag A*. Click for original image.
Based on a ten year study of the motions of nine stars orbiting close to Sagittarius A* (pronounced A-star), the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, scientists have concluded that they are single stars, not binaries as would be expected.
Using W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island, Devin Chu of Hilo, an astronomer with the UCLA Galactic Center Orbits Initiative, led a 10-year survey that found these ‘S-stars,’ where ‘S’ stands for Sagittarius A*, the name of the monster black hole at our galaxy’s core, are all single.
The result is surprising given the S-stars Chu’s team observed included young, massive main-sequence stars that are only about six million years old. Normally, stars at this age that are 10 times more massive than our Sun spend their childhood years paired with a twin in a binary system, or sometimes even as triplets.
This finding suggests that the black hole’s massive gravitational field causes the binaries to be pulled apart, or somehow to merge during their formation.
This data point and the questions it raises pales before the more fundamental question that astronomers have been asking since these stars were first discovered in the 1990s: How is it possible for any stars to form so close to such a disruptive gravitational field?
The support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation:
5. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
SHOW ME THE WAY TO ALPHA CENTARI, WHERE THEY COLLECT A ATARI