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Black hole mystery unveiled by magnetic star discovery

kaya'08

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The discovery of a rare magnetic star - or magnetar - is challenging theories about the origin of black holes.

Magnetars are a special type of neutron star with a powerful magnetic field.

They are formed by gravitational collapse after the original, or progenitor star, dies and forms a catastrophic supernova.

For this newly discovered magnetar, astronomers calculated that the mass of the progenitor must have been at least 40 times greater than that of our Sun.

Collapsing stars of this size should form a black hole. The fact that this one resulted in a neutron star, challenges established theory.

BBC News - Black hole mystery unveiled by magnetic star discovery

Very interesting, but i was wondering. There are so many billions of stars out there, how many of those are of gigantic proportions? Billions, i assume. If they ALL formed black holes when they collapse, would this universe be habitable even in the slightest?
 
Collapsing stars of this size should form a black hole. The fact that this one resulted in a neutron star, challenges established theory.

BBC News - Black hole mystery unveiled by magnetic star discovery

Very interesting, but i was wondering. There are so many billions of stars out there, how many of those are of gigantic proportions? Billions, i assume. If they ALL formed black holes when they collapse, would this universe be habitable even in the slightest?
If you are outside the physical boundaires of a star, then (gravitationally speaking) it doesn't matter if that star has become a black hole or not. A gravitational field depends on two things - your distance from a centre of mass, and how big that mass is. When a star becomes a black hole, all of that mass just gets focused down to a central point - the original 'centre of mass' is now the point where all the mass is. So distance hasn't changed, and mass hasn't changed - gravity won't change either. If anything, the gravitational field outside the physical boundaries of a star will decrease as it becomes a black hole, because the star loses some mass that is blasted off in the transitional supernova.

Inside the boundaries of the star, that's a very different story - gravity will dramatically increase, as the field shifts due to all the mass becoming focused at a central point. But, seeing as not many people live inside a star in the first place, that's not too much of an issue.

Interesting article; thanks!
 
We don't know as much as we like to think we do. :mrgreen:
 
We don't know as much as we like to think we do. :mrgreen:

No we don't, and I was just thinking about posting this myself. The puzzle to me is in the companion star? How massive would it have needed to be? My assumption is that it would have to have been at least 40 solar masses, but probably more, and where is it now. Stars that large don't last that long. Or it could also mean that the Progenitor might have wandered into that cluster, and not originated from the same gas that formed the cluster?


Tim-
 
yea theres lik a gagilliziminibilifnikizatanreally a milli a billi stars out there. then take that to the power gagilliziminibilifnikizatanreally a milli a billi about six more times and i think thats still missing some .-. lmaoo! but yeah theres is plenty of space... in outer space *(wall-e)* lol
 
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