A Mystery Object Is Being Dragged Into The Black Hole at The Center of Our Galaxy

[Judi Lynn]

03 March 2023
By DAVID NIELD



Keck Observatory image of the galactic center showing X7. (A. Ciurlo et al./UCLA GCOI/W. M. Keck Observatory)

For decades, astronomers have watched a mysterious blob named X7 drift around the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, wondering where it came from.

By analyzing 20 years' worth of observations, a team of scientists led by University of California Los Angeles astrophysicist Anna Ciurlo has uncovered dramatic transformation in the X7's shape, stretching to almost twice its initial length.That change in structure suggests the strange blob is most likely made of debris ejected during a relatively recent collision between two stars.

"No other object in this region has shown such an extreme evolution," Ciurlo explains.

"It started off comet-shaped and people thought maybe it got that shape from stellar winds or jets of particles from the black hole. But as we followed it for 20 years we saw it becoming more elongated. Something must have put this cloud on its particular path with its particular orientation."

. . .



More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-mystery-object-is-being-dragged-into-the-black-hole-at-the-center-of-our-galaxy

[Inkey]

1. Perhaps

A star being slowly eaten by the black hole.
Maybe even a gas giant being torn apart.

[Frasier Balzov]

2. All of the thought experiments I've ever seen involving travel into a black hole

emphasize the spaghettification effect of extreme gravitational pull.

[Kablooie]

3. Obviously it's Maximilian Schell flying the Cygnus X-1 into it.

It was documented in a movie.

[Judi Lynn]

4. A mysterious object is being sucked into our galaxy's black hole. Now, we may know what it is.

By Ben Turner published 2 days ago

A strange blob has been seen rapidly circling our galaxy's central black hole. Now, astronomers have identified it as the exploded debris from two merging stars.



An image of the distant blob, X7, circling our Milky Way's supermassive black hole. (Image credit: Anna Ciurlo/UCLA)

A mysterious object that has been slowly drifting toward the center of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole could be the exploded remnants of two colliding stars, a new study suggests.

The strange blob, named X7, has a mass of around 50 Earths and is moving at speeds of up to 700 mph (1,125 km/h) as it spirals into our galaxy's central black hole, getting yanked and stretched by powerful tidal forces as it falls.

Now, by analyzing 20 years of observational data, astrophysicists finally have a theory for what the blob is: a cloud of ejected debris from a head-on collision between two merging stars. They published their findings Feb. 21 in The Astrophysical Journal.

"No other object in this region has shown such an extreme evolution," lead author Anna Ciurlo, an assistant researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a statement. "It started off comet-shaped and people thought maybe it got that shape from stellar winds or jets of particles from the black hole. But as we followed it for 20 years we saw it becoming more elongated. Something must have put this cloud on its particular path with its particular orientation."

More:
https://www.livescience.com/a-mysterious-object-is-being-sucked-into-our-galaxys-black-hole-now-we-may-know-what-it-is

[cstanleytech]

5. Any chance its not a blackhole at the center of the galaxy that is causing it but rather

a wormhole that is at the center and its pulling it in?