When A Black Hole Shreds A Star, A Bright Flare Tells The Tale
Friday, February 28, 2014 - 03:10
in Astronomy & Space
How accurately can you simulate the universe's most violent events? Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz wanted to find out, so when the first detailed observations of a star being ripped apart by a black hole were reported in 2012 (Gezari et al., Nature), he was eager to compare the data with his numerical model. He was also highly skeptical of one of the published conclusions: that the disrupted star was a rare helium star. "I was sure it was a normal hydrogen star and we were just not understanding what's going on," said Ramirez-Ruiz, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. read more