This long-sought result was made possible by increasingly accurate measurements over nearly thirty years, which allowed scientists to unravel the mysteries of the monster that lurks at the heart of our galaxy.
Observations made using The Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the Southern European Observatory (ESO) discovered for the first time that a star orbiting the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way moves exactly as Einstein predicted in his general theory of relativity. Its orbit is in the shape of a rosette and not in the shape of an ellipse as Newton predicted in his theory of gravity. This long-sought result was made possible by increasingly accurate measurements over nearly thirty years, which allowed scientists to unravel the mysteries of the monster that lurks at the heart of our galaxy.
"Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that bound orbits of one object around another are not closed, as in Newtonian gravity, but rather point (change direction) forward in the plane of motion. This famous effect—first seen in the orbit of Mercury around the Sun—was the first proof in favor of general relativity. A hundred years later we discovered the same effect in the motion of a star orbiting the source of concentrated radio transmission Sagittarius A* The region where the black hole is located at the center of the Milky Way This observational breakthrough strengthens the evidence that Sagittarius A* must be a supermassive black hole With a mass that is 4 million times greater than the mass of the sun, says Reinhard Gentzel, director of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign Physics (MPE in Gerching, Germany and the designer of the thirty-year plan that led to this result
Sagittarius A*, located 26,000 light-years from the Sun, and its dense cluster of stars provide a unique laboratory for experiments in extreme and otherwise unexplored gravitational regime physics. 2 of the distance between the Sun and the Earth and this makes it one of the closest stars ever found in orbit around the supermassive black hole at its closest approach to the black hole. For two and a half decades, our excellent measurements have firmly detected the Schwarzschild 20S in its orbit around Sagittarius A*," says Stephan Gilsen of MPE, who led the analysis of the measurements published today in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Most of the stars and planets have a non-circular orbit, so they move closer and further away from the body around which they revolve. 2S's orbit is skewed, meaning the location of its closest point to the supermassive black hole changes with each rotation, so the next orbit is rotated relative to the previous one, creating a rosette shape. General relativity provides an accurate prediction of how much the orbit will change and the latest measurements from this study match the theory exactly. This effect, called the Schwarzschild effect, has never before been measured for a star around a supermassive black hole of the type found at the center of every galaxy.
The research using ESO's VLT is also helping scientists learn more about the environment of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. "Because the 2S measurements fit so well with general relativity we can put tighter limits on the amount of invisible matter such as diffuse dark matter or perhaps smaller black holes found around Sagittarius A*. This is of great interest for understanding the formation and evolution of black holes on -Massive say Guy Perrin and Karin Perot the leading scientists of the project in France.
This result is the culmination of 27 years of observing the 2S star using, most of the time, a fleet of instruments on ESO's VLT located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. The amount of data indicating the star's location and speed indicates the thoroughness and precision of the new study: the team made a total of more than 330 measurements, using the GRAVITY, SINFONI and NACO instruments. Because it takes 2S years to orbit the supermassive black hole, it was essential to follow the star for nearly three decades to reveal the intricacies of its orbital motion.
The research was carried out by an international team led by Frank Eisenhower from MPE with collaborators from France, Portugal, Germany and ESO. The team created the collaboration GRAVITY, named after the device they developed for the VLT inferometer, which combines the light of all four VLT 8 meter telescopes into a super telescope (with a resolution equivalent to that of a 130 meter diameter telescope). The same team reported in 2018 another effect predicted by general relativity: they saw that the light received from 2S was stretched to longer wavelengths as the star moved closer to Sagittarius A*. "Our previous result showed that the light emitted from the star experiences general relativity. Now we have shown that the star itself feels the effects of general relativity", says Paulo Garcia, a researcher at the Center for Astrophysics and Gravitation of Portugal and one of the lead scientists of the GRAVITY project.
Using the Extremely Large Telescope, ESO's next telescope, the team believes they will be able to see much fainter stars with an even closer orbit to the supermassive black hole. "If we're lucky, we might capture stars that are close enough to actually feel the black hole's swirling rotation," says Andreas Eckert from the University of Cologne, another lead scientist of the project. This means that astronomers will be able to measure both the swirling and mass quantities that characterize Sagittarius A* and define space and time around it. This will again be a completely different level of experimenting in relationships," says Eckert.
For information on the ESO website
More of the topic in Hayadan:
17 תגובות
miracles,
The existence of a black hole in the center of the Milky Way is a hypothesis. The hypothesis is based on Newton's theory of gravity.
What the physics is like at the edge of a supermassive black hole, I don't know. The speed of a star, which reaches 3% of the speed of light, is enormous and does not match the speed of all the stars surrounding the center of the galaxy. By the way, tangential acceleration is measured using the second law of... Newton.
Whether a gravitational plexus or Schwarzschild effect exists at the edge of a black hole, I don't know.
I don't know how many observations must be made to validate the discovery linked to S2, but more than a single coffee. Neptune was considered the eighth planet from the Sun until your friend Pluto arrived and crossed Rahab's orbit and for a while Neptune was ninth in the ranking. Conclusion: despite over a hundred years of general relativity, do not eulogize Isaac Newton's contribution to science, as we know it today.
Rafi Hoover
According to your calculations, how many measurements are the seas to make?
Yehuda
We have only observed a third of Pluto's rotation to date.
And yet - they came really, really close to him.
So apparently these annoying scientists can calculate some things after all?
No??
Wonderful. Now I can go to sleep without anxiety. Thank you for the wonderful discovery, and especially for the peace of mind it brings us all. I don't understand but Newton managed to sleep when it now turns out that Einstein was right and not him. What is important is that now we are all calm.
Where is Sheldon when you need him?
I did not understand anything.
to Rafi Hoover
I agree with your astonishment that in less than two rounds the researchers of the article arrive at a "conclusive proof" of Einstein's conclusions! Indeed, there are several inaccuracies resulting from a measurement deviation resulting from the great distance of the occurrence around the black hole, the size of the mass of the black hole, the density of the other stars around the black hole and in addition amounts as required of dark matter which would be useful in its goodness to create a match with any formula or any correction required.
Good Day
Sabdarmish Yehuda
A figure does not add up
Look here: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1825c/
The trajectory is very unusual and the distance to the black hole varies a lot. The speed is 3% of the speed of light only in an area "very" close to the black hole.
The mention of the planet Hema at the beginning of the news gives a historical touch, but is sinful for science. Mercury orbits the Sun every three months (Earth). It has been known for 5,000 years and was studied by the Greeks. Einstein knew - even before he developed the theory of relativity - that MERCURY's orbit is not closed elliptic, like Sir Isaac Newton's theory of gravity. Indeed, Einstein explained the deviation from the Newtonian orbit, using the theory of general relativity, but it is a study of the orbit of a tiny planet that is in the immediate neighborhood and which has been observed circling the sun countless times, and not a study of the sun, which is 26,000 light years away and orbits a supermassive black hole every 16 ( !) years. A sun that has only been studied for 27 years - only a single full moon was observed. What is that "analysis of measurements" that, based on one lap, determines the "striking path" of the sun 2S. On the basis of such a wonderful 'science' it is possible to determine who will win the elections using a sample of a single voter.
Where is the punctuation? How can you read that?
Ok I checked again. Works out if s2 moves more slowly most of the orbit and accelerates to 3% C only in the loop around the black hole.
The elliptic theory is Kepler's who preceded Newton
Something is wrong with the calculation. If S2 moves in an elliptical orbit (rough estimate of circumference say 20 billion km times 4 pi) and takes 16 years to orbit, then it cannot move at 3% of the speed of light. Should be faster right?
I knew Zanza Mi a long time ago
Could the same effect (Schwarzschild drift) also be the reason for the spiral pattern of most galaxies? Images of galaxies of the type that includes "arms" arranged around a dense center (where we expect to find the supermassive black hole) resemble images of airplane propellers, which, of course, bear no resemblance to the relevant physical forces. There is some kind of sophisticated theory for the reason that the arms are arched back, apparently, and why the stars accumulate in the configuration of radial resonance waves, but it is permissible to strive for a more basic explanation, which will rely on the theory of relativity - which, as we know, requires the drifting of space itself in a circular motion around the axis of gravity. The question requires a qualified answer from someone who really knows and understands the nuances of general relativity. I would be happy if such an expert could enlighten me.
I don't understand it but it made me laugh...
Sheldon Cooper thinks otherwise