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Stars Form Near Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole

Posted by Soulskill on from the volatile-real-estate dept.

New submitter Aspiring Astronomer writes: Scientists report that stars have likely formed near the supermassive black hole in the heart of our galaxy. How does this happen, if a black hole exerts so much gravitational force that not even light can escape? Astronomers believe the black hole may actually facilitate the formation of these stars. According to study author Farhad Yusef-Zadeh, the gases and dusts constantly flowing toward black holes compress and heat up, creating enough disturbance to cause the materials to collapse and then form a star. Yusef-Zadeh speculates that in addition to stars forming near black holes, planets may form there, too. The disk around a protostar (a mass of gas and materials that form early in star formation) breaks off into clumps of matter, and when paired with the extreme force of a black hole, may cause the formation whole planets.

6 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. clarification by buchner.johannes · · Score: 4, Informative

    "How does this happen, if a black hole exerts so much gravitational force that not even light can escape?"
    The stars don't form inside the black hole, so I don't see how that is related. Instead they are at a distance of several light years, where some of the gas that falls towards the center stops (angular momentum; similar gravitational attraction of black hole and galaxy stars). The gas can collapse and form stars. These are called "nuclear star clusters".

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    1. Re:clarification by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Similar mysteries to be solved:
      - How can there be dolphins near an island, since an island is land, and dolphins cannot survive on land?
      - How can there be people near a mountain, since the weight of the mountain is enough to crush people?
      - How can there be birds near a nitrogen tank, since nitrogen doesn't sustain life?

  2. Thought Experiment by Ukab+the+Great · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Scientists used to believe that no life would exist at the bottom of the sea around hydrothermal vents do to the kack of light, high heat, and toxic chemicals. Then they visited the hydrothermal vents in subs and found them teeming with all sorts of crazy life, violating their expectations in the most extreme way possible. Perhaps the same holds true for planets near supermassive black holes. And that that's where most of the life is in the galaxy. And that Earth is a bunch of intra-galactic hicks living out in the sticks. Which is why we haven't found any evidence of extra-terrestrial life yet.

    1. Re:Thought Experiment by Aspiring+Astronomer · · Score: 5, Informative

      What an interesting theory! I have very limited knowledge of space and black holes, as this was my first submission (and it made the front page - whoohoo!), and I am still in high school. I do, however, plan to continue studying astronomy throughout high school and eventually in college. So, plan on seeing more submissions from me as my knowledge grows! :)

    2. Re:Thought Experiment by Billly+Gates · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Also when people think of super massive black holes they think of violent, scary, life suckling masses. Compared to the smaller ones they are tamer as they have such a great surface area that stars near there can stay for away from the event horizon for billions of years due to subtripical force and the fact gas gets pulled from great distances

      --
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    3. Re:Thought Experiment by Mal-2 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Scientists used to believe that no life would exist at the bottom of the sea around hydrothermal vents do to the kack of light, high heat, and toxic chemicals. Then they visited the hydrothermal vents in subs and found them teeming with all sorts of crazy life, violating their expectations in the most extreme way possible. Perhaps the same holds true for planets near supermassive black holes. And that that's where most of the life is in the galaxy. And that Earth is a bunch of intra-galactic hicks living out in the sticks. Which is why we haven't found any evidence of extra-terrestrial life yet.

      The problem with this is a simple matter of time. The stars thus created don't have the luxury of billions of years, or tens of billions of years in the case of lower-mass stars than our sun, to evolve complex life. It would also be a problem that, if they were to survive long enough to evolve a space-faring civilization, they would need to find a way to carry the escape velocity from the black hole in addition to all of the other energy necessary just to get away from their home planet.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.