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A Distant Galaxy Is Flaring With Strange Regularity, And Scientists Have Figured Out Why - ScienceAlert

A Distant Galaxy Is Flaring With Strange Regularity, And Scientists Have Figured Out Why - ScienceAlert

A Distant Galaxy Is Flaring With Strange Regularity, And Scientists Have Figured Out Why - ScienceAlert
Jan 13, 2021 1 min, 22 secs

In the centre of the spiral galaxy, named ESO 253-G003, a supermassive black hole is being orbited by a star that, every 114 days, swings close enough for some of its material to be slurped up, causing a brilliant flare of light across multiple wavelengths.

"We think a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center creates the bursts as it partially consumes an orbiting giant star.".

A supermassive black hole emitting regular flares as it snacks on an orbiting star isn't unheard of - one was identified last year, on a nine-hour flaring schedule - but the case wasn't as simple with ESO 253-G003.

That's because ESO 253-G003 is actually two galaxies in the final stages of merging, which means there should be two supermassive black holes in its centre.

Recent research has shown that two interacting supermassive black holes can cause repeated flaring, but the objects in the centre of ESO 253-G003 are thought to be too far apart to interact in this way.

If a star was on an eccentric 114-day orbit around the black hole, its close approach, or periastron, could see it veering close enough to have material stripped before it hurtles away again.

"If a giant star with a puffy envelope wanders close, but not too close, on a very elongated orbit, then the black hole can steal some of the outer material without ripping apart the entire star." said astronomer Benjamin Shappee of the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy.

It's not clear how long the star and the black hole have been maintaining this dance, which makes it hard to calculate how long the star has left.

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