Visitors Now:
Total Visits:
Total Stories:

By Universe Today (Reporter)
Contributor profile | More stories

Story Views
Now:
Last Hour:
Last 24 Hours:
Total:

Two Stars Do a Short-Orbit Tango Around the Milky Way’s Black Hole

Friday, October 5, 2012 1:41

% of readers think this story is Fact. Add your two cents.

(Before It's News)

Astronomers have known for some time there was one star orbiting fairly close to the black hole at the center of our galaxy. But now another star has been found dipping close and orbiting even faster around the Milky Way’s central black hole. Astronomer Andrea Ghez from UCLA says the ability to watch these two stars in a short-period ‘tango’ around the black hole will help scientist measure the effects of space-time curvature, and they should be able to determine whether Albert Einstein was right in his prediction of how black holes could warp space and time.

“I’m extremely pleased to find two stars that orbit our galaxy’s supermassive black hole in much less than a human lifetime,” said Ghez. “It is the tango of [these stars] that will reveal the true geometry of space and time near a black hole for the first time. This measurement cannot be done with one star alone.”
(…)
Read the rest of Two Stars Do a Short-Orbit Tango Around the Milky Way’s Black Hole (588 words)