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The recently discovered G2 cloud which is infalling toward SgrA∗ is a most intriguing astronomical discovery (Gillessen et al. 2012) – both its origin and nature are unclear as yet
At this point it is unclear if the cloud will survive pericenter passage and whether the activity of SgrA∗will increase and over what timescale
Here we explore a different scenario – G2 being a young low mass TTauri star, formed in the young stellar ring and subsequently injected into the eccentric orbit. Many TTauri stars have mass-loss winds at 200 - 500 km s−1with M˙ ∼ 1 − 5 × 10−8M⊙ yr−1 during their first million years. arxiv.org...
Modelling work by Ruth Murray-Clay and Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, suggests that planets can form within the powerful gravitational field of a giant black hole. And it heightens expectations about what astronomers might learn as the cloud nears the galaxy’s biggest black hole — an event expected to cause a spectacular light show that could begin as early as next year. The model is published today in Nature Communications1
www.nature.com...
Orbit problem The simulated gas cloud matches key features of the observed cloud, Murray-Clay and Loeb report. However, they calculate that there is only a 0.1% chance that a recently dislodged star would have the same orbit as the gas cloud. This small percentage “is the main theoretical problem” with the model, says Stefan Gillessen at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physicsin Garching, Germany, a member of the team behind the cloud's discovery. The duo's model predicts that the gas cloud should have a dense core, which would be revealed by an increase in brightness as the cloud ventures closer to the black hole, Loeb notes. If the model is confirmed, it would suggest that young, low-mass stars that remained in the ring have disks stable enough to forge planets. Regardless of the cloud’s origin, it could take decades for the whole of it to plunge into the black hole. Material could start falling onto a swirling accretion disk surrounding the black hole by the end of 2013 and continue for 20–40 years, says astronomer Andreas Burkert of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, another member of the cloud-discovery team. And infalling gas must still make its way from the accretion disk to the black hole itself before most of the fireworks begin, he says.
“So far there were only two stars that came that close to Sagittarius A*,” Gillessen said. “They passed unharmed, but this time will be different: the gas cloud will be completely ripped apart by the tidal forces of the black hole.” Read more: www.universetoday.com...
www.nature.com...
The magnetar’s accidental discovery is a by-product of astronomers’ excitement about the arrival of the gas cloud, dubbed G2. The cloud, which is about three times the mass of Earth, was first spotted near Sgr A* in 2012 (and was later found in 2002 data). Its arrival would deliver insight into how objects accrete into the swirling disk of material around a black hole, as well as offering the first chance for astronomers to measure the time that it takes for objects to be captured and swallowed up. Every flicker of emissions from Sgr A* sparks a flurry of speculation, intensifying the usual cycle of observation and coordinated follow-up that characterizes high-energy astronomy. Many telescope directors are scheduling additional monitoring of the Galactic Centre. The VLA, for example, is already scanning radio frequencies around Sgr A* every two months, and will do so every month once G2 arrives.
Originally posted by InverseLookingGlass
"...Gamma Ray bursts and or major cosmic rays coming from such a system could ( I think) reach us within months... but I am not sure about that. This is why I want it up for discussion here on ATS."
The galactic center is 50,000 light years away so technically takes that long fro a GRB to arrive. Now how long between the time we see the flash for the first tome and the GR's getting here isn't well known but it could be days or weeks.
The good news is that there is an astronomically low chance this particular threat will manifest. The GRB is thought to be a narrow jet and God himself would have to be aiming that gun to make the shot from 50,000 light years.
The solar kill shot scenario or asteroid impact is much more likely. In fact, you getting killed in an auto accident tomorrow is probably a billion times more likely.
edit on 10-6-2013 by InverseLookingGlass because: bad spelling
However, all studies done so far on the core of our galaxy indicates that there is only one massive black hole there.
Originally posted by MamaJ
reply to post by eriktheawful
Thank you for your input, I always value your opinion. And.. not to worry, I am not worried.
However, all studies done so far on the core of our galaxy indicates that there is only one massive black hole there.
I am not familiar with those studies. Also, I have also read that as the cloud makes it way we will be able to see/detect more black holes from small to intermediate. It could interact with any of them before it gets to the nucleus, I guess.?
They are making a big deal of it.. watch... we won't even be able to detect any light from it.
Astronomers are confident that these observations of Sagittarius A* provide good empirical evidence that our own Milky Way galaxy has a supermassive black hole at its center, 26,000 light-years from the Solar System[6] because:
The star S2 follows an elliptical orbit with a period of 15.2 years and a pericenter (closest distance) of 17 light hours (1.8×1013 m) from the center of the central object.[16]
From the motion of star S2, the object's mass can be estimated as 4.1 million solar masses.[3] (The corresponding Schwarzschild radius is 0.08 AU; 17 times bigger than Sun.)
The radius of the central object must be significantly less than 17 light hours, because otherwise, S2 would collide with it. In fact, recent observations[17] indicate that the radius is no more than 6.25 light-hours, about the diameter of Uranus' orbit, leading to density limit 8.55×1036 kg / 1.288×1039 m3 = 0.0066 kg/m3.
The only widely hypothesized type of object which can contain 4.1 million solar masses in a volume that small is a black hole.
Recent observations by the European Space Agency's INTEGRAL satellite may explain the origin of a giant cloud of antimatter surrounding the galactic center. The observations show that the cloud is asymmetrical and matches the pattern of X-ray binaries (binary star systems containing black holes or neutron stars), mostly on one side of the galactic center. While the mechanism is not fully understood, it is likely to involve the production of electron–positron pairs, as ordinary matter gains tremendous energy while falling into a stellar remnant.[10][11] Antimatter may exist in relatively large amounts in far-away galaxies due to cosmic inflation in the primordial time of the universe. Antimatter galaxies, if they exist, are expected to have the same chemistry and absorption and emission spectra as normal-matter galaxies, and their astronomical objects would be observationally identical, making them difficult to distinguish.[12] NASA is trying to determine if such galaxies exist by looking for X-ray and gamma-ray signatures of annihilation events in colliding superclusters