Supermassive Black Hole Destroying Proto Star System

astroengine writes "A new analysis of recent observations finds evidence for a protoplanetary disk around a red dwarf star plunging in the direction of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. Ruth Murray-Clay and Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics did the theoretical work. Stefan Gillessen of the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics made the observations using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The red dwarf star will make its closest approach in the summer of 2013, hurtling only 270 billion miles from black hole. (Or roughly 54 solar system diameters, as measured from the furthest edge of the Kuiper belt.) It won't get sucked into the black hole, but it will be flung back along its elliptical orbit out to a distance of a little more than 1/10 light-years."

Comments

Orbit

[i kan reed]

This sounds like orbit not destruction. It's like how the earth and moon can orbit the sun without being destroyed. I'm sure some of the details will help with measuring the effect of the black hole, but this is sensationalized to an absurd degree.

Re:Orbit

[Rotaluclac]

If the orbit comes close enough to the black hole, and if the protoplanetary disc is large enough, tidal effects will destroy the protoplanetary disc.

Question is: why hasn't this destruction happened at the previous closest pass of the black hole?

Re:Orbit

[mareacaspica]

Maybe because it's going closer and closer every time?

Re:Orbit

[squiggleslash]

I want to know why the scientists keep making these giant supermassive super destructive black holes. Surely when there is starvation in the world there are more peaceful goals they could be striving for?!

Re:Orbit

[ackthpt]

This sounds like orbit not destruction. It's like how the earth and moon can orbit the sun without being destroyed. I'm sure some of the details will help with measuring the effect of the black hole, but this is sensationalized to an absurd degree.

Each time the star passes it probably loses just a wee bit of mass and looks egg shaped. I'd pay to see that, but it would probably be a fatal experience.

Re:Orbit

[theurge14]

Because ALIENS.

Re:Orbit

[AmeerCB]

If the orbit comes close enough to the black hole, and if the protoplanetary disc is large enough, tidal effects will destroy the protoplanetary disc.

Question is: why hasn't this destruction happened at the previous closest pass of the black hole?

From TFA:

"The star was likely formed in the stellar ring and later thrown into its highly eccentric orbit though a close encounter with one or more stars in the ring. The stars exchanged momentum and the red dwarf was tossed onto a new, deadly trajectory. "

So, even though they're calling it an "orbit," it was likely not on this trajectory before and this is the first time it's getting close enough to the black hole for the disc to be affected. Also, the disc is already being destroyed: "But the damage is already happening. The protoplanetary disk is disintegrating under the black hole's tidal pull -- stretching the disk like taffy. Add to that a withering blast of ultraviolet radiation from the black hole that is heating and driving off material in the disk."

Re:Orbit

[dimeglio]

Natural selection my friend. In the end only the supermassives will survive.

Re:light years

[wbr1]

And parsecs is a measure of the diameter of Uranus.

Proto-Star Protection Legislation

[Nemesisghost]

I propose that we protect these infant stars from the destructive forces of black holes by making it illegal for black holes to be within 1 parsec from any newly forming stars. As an added precaution, they should also stay away from all nebulae and other entities which have the potential to form stars at any time in the future. Help Stop Proto-Star Destruction by calling your congressman/woman today & demanding they pass HR-1@M@N1D01T.

Re:light years

[gstoddart]

And parsecs is a measure of the diameter of Uranus.

No, those are arsecs. ;-)

Re:light years

[James McGuigan]

A light year is the distance it takes light to travel one year:
    | 0.3066013938 pc (parsecs)
    | 63241.07708 AU (astronomical units)
    | 9.461×10^12 km (kilometers)
    | 9.461×10^15 meters
    | 5.879 trillion miles

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=light+year

Though according to general relativity spacetime is 4 dimensional and the distance between two events can be measured in interchangeable units of space and time measured in light-years or light seconds.

We all travel through spacetime at the speed of light, in the direction of time, but when we start to travel in the space direction at a fraction of the speed of light, we still travel at the speed of of light, but as an angle in space time, like the hypotenuse (long side) of a triangle using Pythagoras' equation (a^2 + b^2 = c^2), with part of our direction in time and part of our direction in space. This accounts for most of the weirdness experienced with time dilation and dimensions appearing to shorten (the object is partially rotated into the time dimension).

Time...

[MachineShedFred]

The red dwarf star will make its closest approach in the summer of 2013

Hate to get pedantic, but didn't this actually happen tens of thousands of years ago (if not millions), and the light show will only get to us in the summer of 2013?