Slashdot Mirror
Black Hole Birth Detected this Morning
An anonymous reader writes "SPACE.com is reporting on the first optical afterglow ever detected from a short-duration (milliseconds) Gamma-Ray Burst. The GRB signals the birth of a black hole resulting from a merger between two neutron stars. Theory had predicted the whole thing, which was all spotted this morning by NASA's Swift satellite and ground-based observatories, thanks to an automated email system that notifies astronomers worldwide."
Wasn't there another slashdot article a few weeks ago about how blackholes don't exist? I think it was talking about this report.
Found it. Donald Coyne of UCSC gave a talk on the Ultimate Fate of Small Black Holes. Be sure to check the Milagro link on his facutly page.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
From what I've read, you have a better chance of detecting a black hole by looking for the effects of its gravitational field on light that passes nearby. It should warp the apparent positions of stars.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Red Dwarf, Season 3, Episode 2 "Marooned."
There are long and short GRB events. This was the first time an optical afterglow was detected for a short event. The theory was that long and short GRBs were caused by similar events, and we should see an afterglow for both - which, of course, is the evidence that was found.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Real image: (Note it is a negative - black means lots of light. The big thing in the middle is a galaxy, and the error box is pointing to somewhere on its outer edge.)0 9.jpg
http://www.srl.caltech.edu/~cenko/grb050509b/0505
What they detected was a gamma ray burst and an afterglow. Everything else is speculation; they are basically saying "if all our theories are correct, then the explanation that this is two neutron stars merging into a black hole is the most plausible explanation". The observation does not provide any additional evidence that black holes exist.