NASA Missions Study What May Be a 1-In-10,000-Year Gamma-ray Burst

[Waspie_Dwarf]

NASA Missions Study What May Be a 1-In-10,000-Year Gamma-ray Burst

Quote

On Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022, a pulse of intense radiation swept through the solar system so exceptional that astronomers quickly dubbed it the BOAT – the brightest of all time.

The source was a gamma-ray burst (GRB), the most powerful class of explosions in the universe.

Read More: NASA

 

[+joc]

 Astronomers think these bursts represent the birth cries of black holes formed when the cores of massive stars collapse under their own weight. As it quickly ingests the surrounding matter, the black hole blasts out jets in opposite directions containing particles accelerated to near the speed of light. These jets pierce through the star, emitting X-rays and gamma rays as they stream into space.

So now I am wondering...do we know anything about the Death Cries of black holes...when the Black Hole itself can no longer contain all of the matter it has pulled in?

[Waspie_Dwarf]

52 minutes ago, joc said:

So now I am wondering...do we know anything about the Death Cries of black holes...when the Black Hole itself can no longer contain all of the matter it has pulled in?

There is no theoretical limit to the mass of a black hole (although ultra massive black holes don't appear to exceed 10 billion solar masses).

Black holes die by evaporation as a result of Hawking radiation. They are, however, extremely long lived, taking trillions up trillions of years to do this. Black holes will still be around long after the last star has died.

[+joc]

22 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

There is no theoretical limit to the mass of a black hole (although ultra massive black holes don't appear to exceed 10 billion solar masses).

Black holes die by evaporation as a result of Hawking radiation. They are, however, extremely long lived, taking trillions up trillions of years to do this. Black holes will still be around long after the last star has died.

Trillions upon trillions of years?  I thought the universe was like 13.7 billion years old.  

[Waspie_Dwarf]

29 minutes ago, joc said:

Trillions upon trillions of years?  I thought the universe was like 13.7 billion years old.  

It is. That's it's age now but (by astronomical standards) it's still relatively young.

According to one hypothesis, the heat death model, it will exist for ever (although it will become a cold, dark, lifeless place), with the largest black holes surviving for another 10¹⁰⁶ years. In other models where the universe has a finite existence the supermassive black holes will still exist at the end of the universe.