Quantcast
ZME Science
  • CoronavirusNEW
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Science Astronomy

The first witnessed birth of a black hole

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
October 27, 2017
in Astronomy, Research, Space
Get more science news like this...

Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

pi in the skyThe date of March 19, 2008 will be remembered as a very important day in astronomy and science; it’s the day mankind had its first chance of witnessing the birth of a black hole. It all started when the “Pi of the Sky” telescope detected the brightest ever optical outburst from a distant place, about 7.5 billion light years from the Earth, halfway across the visible Universe. What’s also interesting is that the telescope is just 71 mm in diameter. Some materials were published in the Soltan Institute for Nuclear Studies. The outburst named GRB 080319B is believed to be the death of a massive star leading to the creation of a black hole. For the first time the birth of a black hole has been filmed; cameras recorded about a 4-minute sequence of 10-second-long images. The outburst was so powerful that in 20 seconds it became visible with the naked eye ! Quite something when you think how far away it is. But after that it began fading and after 4 minutes it was about 100 times fader. This observation was the proof of the novel concept of the “Pi of the Sky” project, as its principle is quite different and innovative. It was inspired by Bohdan Paczynski, the great astrophysicist who past away last year. The novelty consists of the fact that it monitors a continuously large fraction of the sky taking 10s exposures and detects optical flashes independently, while the satellite information confirms the origin of the flash. While this observation was astonishing itsefl, astronomers expect even more great recordings, perhaps even better than this one. The name, “Pi in the sky” comes from the fact that they initially wanted to cover pi (~3.14) steradians of the sky. Here’s the video!

Tags: black hole
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

Follow ZME on social media

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Coronavirus
  • News
  • Environment
    • Climate
    • Animals
    • Renewable Energy
    • Eco tips
    • Environmental Issues
    • Green Living
  • Health
    • Alternative Medicine
    • Anatomy
    • Diseases
    • Genetics
    • Mind & Brain
    • Nutrition
  • Future
  • Space
  • Feature
    • Feature Post
    • Art
    • Great Pics
    • Design
    • Fossil Friday
    • AstroPicture
    • GeoPicture
    • Did you know?
    • Offbeat
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.