Name: how astronomers find black holes
Uploaded: 2023-04-30T11:07:38.000Z
Duration: 1 min 10 s
Channel: JoVE

K12 Standards

north-carolina-k-12-science-standard-course-of-study

NC K-12 Science Standard Course of Study

9-12

Earth and Environmental Science

Earth's Place in the Universe

ESS.EES.1.1

Detection of Black Holes

L'orizzonte degli eventi definisce un confine che circonda un buco nero, all'interno del quale la velocità di fuga supera la velocità della luce.
Poiché i fotoni di luce non possono sfuggire, gli eventi che si verificano all'interno dell'orizzonte degli eventi non possono essere visti. Quindi, come fanno gli astronomi a rilevare un buco nero?
L'enorme gravità del buco nero attrae qualsiasi materia vicina ad esso. Quando questa materia cade oltre l'orizzonte degli eventi, forma un disco simile a un vortice attorno all'orizzonte degli eventi, noto come disco di accrescimento.
Appena fuori dall'orizzonte degli eventi, la velocità della materia è appena inferiore alla velocità della luce. Le particelle che si muovono a velocità relativistiche interagiscono tra loro, aumentando così la temperatura del disco di accrescimento. A temperature molto elevate, la materia emette raggi X, che gli astronomi possono rilevare utilizzando i telescopi spaziali.
Un buco nero supermassiccio al centro di una galassia può essere rilevato osservando il periodo orbitale delle stelle vicine ad esso. Utilizzando la terza legge del moto planetario di Keplero, la massa di un tale buco nero può essere stimata.

individuazione dei buchi neri

Sebbene i buchi neri siano stati teoricamente postulati nel 1920, rimasero fuori dal campo si osservazione astronomico fino al 1970.

I loro cugini più vicini sono le stelle di neutroni, le quali sono composte quasi interamente da neutroni compressi l'uno contro l'altro, rendendole estremamente dense. Una stella di neutroni ha la stessa massa del sole ma il suo diametro è di pochi chilometri. Pertanto, la velocità di fuga dalla loro superficie è vicina alla velocità della luce.

Solo negli anni '60, quando la prima stella di neutroni fu scoperta, si rinnovò l'interesse per l'esistenza dei buchi neri. La prova dei buchi neri si basa su diversi tipi di osservazioni, come l'analisi delle radiazioni delle stelle binarie (chiamata raggi-x binari), la lente gravitazionale della luce da galassie distanti, e il movimento di oggetti visibili intorno a partner invisibili.

La più vicina e forse la più drammatica prova di un buco nero è al centro della nostra galassia, la Via Lattea. Usando i dati ottenuti dall'osservatorio W. M. Kech, gli astronomi sono stati capaci di determinare l'orbita di diverse stelle vicino al centro della nostra galassia. I periodi e le grandezze di queste orbite suggeriscono che le stelle stanno orbitando intorno ad una massa di approssimativamente 4milioni di masse solari. Inoltre, questa massa deve risiedere in una regione ottenuta dall'intersezione delle orbite delle stelle. Questa regione è così piccola che potrebbe stare dentro l'orbita di mercurio. Tuttavia, nessuna luce è emessa nello spettro visibile di questa zona.

L'unica conclusione logica di queste osservazioni della zona fuori dalla Via Lattea suggerisce che i buchi neri con masse milioni di volte maggiori a quella del sole sono comuni al centro delle galassie.

Questo testo è adattato da <a href="https://openstax.org/books/university-physics-volume-1/pages/13-7-einsteins-theory-of-gravity">Openstax, University Physics Volume 1, Section 13.7: Einstein's Theory of Gravity.</a>

Individuazione dei buchi neri

Sebbene i buchi neri siano stati teoricamente postulati negli anni '20, sono rimasti al di fuori del dominio dell'astronomia osservativa fino agli anni '70.
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Education

Didattica

JoVE Core

Physics

Fisica

Unit 1

Unità 1

Gravitation

Gravitazione

KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS

TERMINI E CONCETTI CHIAVE

how astronomers find black holes

Black holes are found through indirect astronomical evidence. They were first proposed in the 1920s, but they stayed outside observational astronomy until the 1970s. Their closest known cousins are neutron stars, which are made mostly of packed neutrons and are extremely dense.

A neutron star can have the mass of the Sun while its diameter is only a few kilometers. Because of that, the escape velocity from its surface is close to the speed of light. Interest in black holes rose again in the 1960s, after the first neutron star was discovered.

Astronomers look for black holes using several kinds of observations. These include radiation from binary stars, called X-ray binaries, gravitational lensing of light from distant galaxies, and the motion of visible objects around unseen partners. Each method gives indirect evidence that something massive and invisible is present.

The strongest nearby evidence comes from the center of the Milky Way. Data from the W. M. Keck Observatory show that several stars orbit a hidden mass there. The size and period of those orbits point to about four million solar masses packed into a region so small that it would fit inside Mercury’s orbit.

No visible light comes from that region. For that reason, the best explanation is that a black hole is present. Similar observations outside the Milky Way suggest that black holes millions of times more massive than the Sun are common at the centers of galaxies.

How Astronomers Find Black Holes

gravitation

Newton’s Law Behind Planet Motion

Newton’s law of gravitation links falling objects, the Moon’s orbit, and planetary motion. Before Newton, many people thought the sky and Earth followed different laws. Kepler later described the three laws of planetary motion, but their connection to a deeper force was still unclear. Isaac Newton made that connection in 1665 to 1666. He showed that the same phenomenon explains why objects fall to Earth and why the Moon moves around Earth. He also found that the Moon’s centripetal acceleration...

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newton's law of gravitation

Newton's Gravity and the Motion of Bodies

Newton's gravity links the fall of objects on Earth with the motion of the Moon and planets. People once thought the downward pull seen near Earth was unique to our planet. Later, Nicolaus Copernicus proposed the heliocentric theory, which placed Earth and the other planets around the Sun, with the Moon orbiting Earth. Isaac Newton connected these motions in the 17th century. He reasoned that the same attraction that keeps the Moon on its path around Earth also makes an apple fall from a tree.

gravitation between spherically symmetric masses

gravitation-between-spherically-symmetric-masses

Gravitational Potential Inside a Shell

Gravitational potential energy for spherically symmetric bodies depends on their masses and the distance between them. The idea is to treat each body as if its mass were concentrated at its center of mass. This makes the calculation easier for high school physics. A spherically symmetric mass can be thought of as many concentric spherical shells. Now place a point mass at a distance r from the center of one shell. Every particle on a given spherical ring is the same distance from that point...

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gravity between spherical bodies

Point-Mass Approximation in Spherical Gravity

Newton’s law of gravitation gives the force between two point masses. For large spherical objects, such as the Earth, the Moon, and other planets, the same law can be used by treating each body as if its mass were concentrated at its center. This idea can be proven by comparing gravitational potential energy. The transcript shows that a hollow sphere of mass M and a point mass m give the same energy result as two extended solid spherical objects. To set up the proof, a tiny ring on the shell...

reduced mass coordinates: isolated two-body problem

reduced-mass-coordinates-isolated-two-body-problem

Center of Mass in the Two-Body Problem

Reduced mass coordinates help simplify the classical two-body problem. In classical mechanics, this problem describes the motion of two interacting bodies under gravity or another central force. The key idea is that the system can be treated like a single-body problem when reduced mass is used. For this description, one body is imagined to move with the reduced mass while the other body is fixed in place with infinite mass. The reduced mass is a property of the two-body system and is defined...

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acceleration due to gravity on earth

Gravity on Earth: Mass, Direction, and Value

Gravity near Earth gives objects a downward acceleration called acceleration due to gravity. It comes from Earth’s gravitational pull and points toward the center of the Earth. Newton’s law of gravitation shows that the gravitational force depends on mass, while Newton’s second law shows that the acceleration produced by a force depends on how that force acts on the object. Because of this relationship, the acceleration due to gravity is independent of an object’s mass. An object and the Earth...

acceleration due to gravity on other planets

acceleration-due-to-gravity-on-other-planets

Measuring Gravity on Distant Planets

Gravity near Earth’s surface is measured as acceleration due to gravity. On Earth, students can test it with simple experiments. On other planets, that kind of direct experiment is not possible. Instead, astronomers use observations to find a planet’s gravity. They study how the planet affects nearby objects, especially its satellite. The key idea is that the acceleration depends on the planet’s gravity, not on the object’s mass. To make the calculation, scientists track a satellite’s path...

apparent weight and the earth's rotation

Earth's Spin and Apparent Weight

Earth’s spin changes how weight is measured on the surface. Because the Earth turns once every 24 hours, objects on the surface move in a circle. That motion requires a net centripetal force, which points toward the center of the circle. The north and south poles are the only exception. At the equator, the force that provides this inward pull comes from Earth’s gravity. It is the difference between an object’s true weight and the normal force from the ground. The normal force is the support...

variation in acceleration due to gravity near the earth's surface

variation-in-acceleration-due-to-gravity-near-the-earth-s-surface

How Earth’s Shape Affects Apparent Weight

Apparent weight changes slightly on Earth because of rotation and the planet’s shape. Apparent weight is the weight measured by a spring balance at a location. It is different from true weight, which is the force Earth pulls on an object with. Earth’s rotation reduces apparent weight by adding a centripetal force. Centripetal force is the inward force that keeps an object moving in a circle. The apparent weight equals the true weight minus this force. The difference depends on the square of...

potential energy due to gravitation

Gravitational Binding and Potential Energy

Gravitational potential energy describes how gravity stores energy between two masses. Because gravity is a conservative force, the work needed to move an object between two points depends on the starting and ending positions, not on the path taken. That is why a gravitational potential energy function can be written in terms of spatial coordinates. For a mass bound by gravity to another object, the potential energy is negative near the attracting body and rises toward zero as the distance...

the principle of superposition and the gravitational field

the-principle-of-superposition-and-the-gravitational-field

Adding Gravitational Forces with Superposition

Gravitational forces can be added using the principle of superposition. For objects that are sufficiently far apart, the net gravitational force on a point object is the vector sum of the forces from each mass. This means each force is found first, and then the forces are added as vectors. Superposition is useful because gravity from more than one object can combine in ways that are not always easy to see. One force may be increased or reduced by another force, or the final effect may be a...

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escape velocity

Launching a Satellite Beyond Gravity

Launching a satellite beyond gravity requires enough escape velocity to leave a planet or other body and never return. Escape velocity is the minimum initial speed needed to break free from the gravitational pull of an object that is holding the satellite in orbit or near its surface. For Earth, the idea is often shown with a satellite launched from the ground. The calculation assumes that no energy is lost to friction. In real life, Earth’s atmosphere also slows the satellite down, so the...

circular orbits and critical velocity for satellites

circular-orbits-and-critical-velocity-for-satellites

Orbital Speed and Period in Circular Paths

Orbital speed and period in circular paths explain how the Moon, planets, and satellites stay in motion around larger bodies. The Moon orbits Earth. Earth and the other planets orbit the Sun. The space above our atmosphere also contains many artificial satellites. A circular orbit is the simplest orbit to study. It helps show how an object’s speed and its period, or the time for one full orbit, depend on where it is and what it circles. Nicolaus Copernicus first suggested that Earth and the...

energy of a satellite in a circular orbit

energy-of-a-satellite-in-a-circular-orbit

Satellite Orbits and Energy in Space

Satellite orbits and energy in space depend on altitude, orbit shape, and gravity. Thousands of artificial satellites circle Earth every day at many different distances. Satellites below 1,600 km are in low-Earth orbit, or LEO. Research satellites and Earth observation satellites are usually placed in LEO. They mostly move in elliptical orbits, which are oval-shaped paths. Navigation satellites are placed in medium-Earth orbit, or MEO, which ranges from 2,000 km to 36,000 km above Earth’s...

kepler's first law of planetary motion

Planet Orbits as Ellipses

Planet orbits are not perfect circles. Johannes Kepler used planet data from Tycho Brahe to show that each planet follows an ellipse, with the Sun at one focus. This idea came from studying Mars, which did not fit the circular path expected in the Copernican heliocentric model. Copernicus had proposed that the solar system is heliocentric, meaning the Sun is at the center and the planets, including Earth, move around it. His model treated those paths as circles. Brahe later recorded the...

kepler's second law of planetary motion

Kepler's Equal-Area Planet Motion

Kepler's second law explains how a planet moves faster and slower in its orbit around the Sun. Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer and mathematician in the early 17th century, developed three laws for planetary motion. His first law says that planets travel in elliptical orbits, with the Sun at one focus of the ellipse. Because the planet-Sun distance changes during the orbit, the planet does not move at the same speed all the time. In an elliptical orbit, the total energy of the planet is...

kepler's third law of planetary motion

Kepler’s Planet Distance Law

Kepler’s third law links a planet’s average distance from the Sun to the time it takes to orbit the Sun. This rule gives a clear mathematical relationship between orbital distance and orbital period, which is the time for one full revolution. Johannes Kepler developed this law in the early 17th century after building on the observations of Nicolaus Copernicus and Tycho Brahe. Kepler first formed his first two laws from those earlier observations. He later published the third law of planetary...

tidal forces

How the Moon Shapes Earth’s Tides

Earth’s ocean tides are driven by gravitational tidal forces. Scientists have studied the origin of tides for more than 2000 years, and Newton’s work marked the start of a proper understanding. These same tidal forces also act on other astronomical bodies. They can produce internal heat that leads to volcanic activity on Io, one of Jupiter’s moons, and they can tear apart stars that pass too close to black holes. Newton’s law of gravitation says that gravitational force is inversely...

schwarzschild radius and event horizon

Escape Velocity Limits and Black Holes

Escape velocity helps explain how black holes and event horizons form. It is the minimum speed a projectile needs to leave the surface of an object and eventually escape its gravitational field. In this context, escape velocity does not depend on the mass of the object being launched. The key idea is that no object with finite mass can move faster than the speed of light in a vacuum. When escape velocity is compared with that speed limit, the Schwarzschild radius becomes important. If an...

detection of black holes

Black holes are found through indirect astronomical evidence. They were first proposed in the 1920s, but they stayed outside observational astronomy until the 1970s. Their closest known cousins are neutron stars, which are made mostly of packed neutrons and are extremely dense. A neutron star can have the mass of the Sun while its diameter is only a few kilometers. Because of that, the escape velocity from its surface is close to the speed of light. Interest in black holes rose again in the...

principle of equivalence

Weightlessness and Einstein’s Equivalence

Weightlessness and Einstein’s equivalence principle are closely connected in gravity. A person in free fall under gravity, such as someone diving toward Earth from an airplane, would feel completely weightless. A person descending in a lift may feel partially weightless. The principle of equivalence says that an object in a uniform gravitational field and an object accelerating at a constant rate with no gravity are under the same experimental conditions. In other words, no experiment can tell...

space-time curvature and the general theory of relativity

space-time-curvature-and-the-general-theory-of-relativity

Einstein’s Gravity and Mercury’s Orbit

Einstein’s theory of gravity explains how space-time affects motion. In 1905, Einstein published his special theory of relativity. It says that no object can travel faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, which is the speed limit of the universe. Special relativity also changed the way scientists think about space and time. Two observers moving relative to each other do not agree on object length or on how time passes. Newton’s laws still work well for many cases, even for objects moving...

key terms and concepts

Learn how astronomers detect black holes using star orbits, X-ray binaries, gravitational lensing, and evidence from the Milky Way's center.

How Astronomers Find Black Holes | JoVE K12

physics

JoVE Core Physics introduces the theory and application of fundamental physics topics, including kinematics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, statics, waves, and acoustics, with concise and easy-to-understand animated videos. Additionally, the scientist-in-action videos demonstrate the application of related concepts in classical and original research experiments performed in today's laboratories worldwide.

Pennsylvania State Academic Standards

Earth and Space Science

Space Systems

3.3.9-12.B

3.3.9-12.D

Louisiana Student Standards for Science

High School

Earth Science

Earth’s Place In The Universe

HS-ESS1-1

HS-ESS1-2

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Ohio’s Learning Standards and Model Curriculum

Physical Science

The Universe

Stars

Virginia  Standards of Learning

HIgh School

ES.2

ES.2.a

ES.2.d

Alabama Course of Study Science

9-12.ESS.1.3.b

Florida Department of Education

SC.912.E.5

SC.912.E.5.5

SC.912.E.5.10

new-york-state-science-learning-standards

New York State Science Learning Standards

Earth and Space Sciences

HS-ESS1-3.

Georgia Standards of Excellence

Astronomy

SAST4

SAST4.1

Kepler's First Law of Planetary Motion

In the early 17th century, German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler postulated three laws for the motion of planets in the solar system. He ...

Kepler's Second Law of Planetary Motion

In the early 17th century, German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler postulated three laws for the motion of planets in the solar system. His ...

Kepler's Third Law of Planetary Motion

In the early 17th century, German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler postulated three laws for the motion of planets in the solar system. In ...

Although black holes were theoretically postulated in the 1920s, they remained outside the domain of observational astronomy until the 1970s.
Their ...

Tidal Forces

The origin of Earth&#39;s ocean tides has been a subject of continuous investigation for over 2000 years. However, the work of Newton is considered to be ...

Circular Orbits and Critical Velocity for Satellites

The Moon orbits around the Earth. In turn, the Earth (and other planets) orbit the Sun. The space directly above our atmosphere is filled with artificial ...

Gravity between Spherical Bodies

Newton&#39;s law of gravitation describes the gravitational force between any two point masses. However, for extended spherical objects like the Earth, ...

Use models to illustrate the formation of the solar system.

Uniform Circular Motion

Uniform circular motion is a specific type of motion in which an object travels in a circle with a constant speed. For example, any point on a propeller ...

Gyroscope: Precession

Precession can be demonstrated effectively through a spinning top. If a spinning top is placed on a flat surface near the surface of the Earth at a ...

simple-harmonic-motion-and-uniform-circular-motion

Simple Harmonic Motion and Uniform Circular Motion

While simple harmonic motion and uniform circular motion may be two separate concepts, they correlate and interlink with each other. Simple harmonic ...

Use mathematics and computational thinking to analyze Earth's motion through space.

ESS.EES.1.2

Light as Energy

The energy required to carry out photosynthesis is light&#8212; typically electromagnetic radiation from the sun. The range of all possible wavelengths is ...

Nuclear Fusion

The process of converting very light nuclei into heavier nuclei is also accompanied by the conversion of mass into large amounts of energy, a process ...

First Law of Thermodynamics

The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. This can be demonstrated within a classic food web ...

Energy Dynamics

The Food Chain
Energy is one of the most important abiotic factors in an ecosystem and organisms in an ecosystem are connected by the flow of energy and ...

Use models to illustrate how the sun produces energy.

ESS.EES.1.3

Radiation: Applications

The average temperature of Earth is the subject of much current discussion. Earth is in radiative contact with both the Sun and dark space; it receives ...

What is Weather?

Overview

Weather refers to the current state of atmospheric conditions at a specific time and place. Weather is temporary and is influenced by the ...

What is Climate?

Climate refers to the prevailing weather conditions in a specific area over an extended period. As the saying goes, &#8220;Climate is what you expect. ...

Radiation Pressure: Problem Solving

The radiation pressure applied by an electromagnetic wave on a perfectly absorbing surface equals the energy density of the wave. The wave&#39;s momentum ...

Absorption of Radiation

The rate of heat transfer by emitted radiation is described by the Stefan-Boltzmann law of radiation:

where &#963; is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant, a ...

Construct an explanation to infer how incoming solar radiation interacts with Earth systems to support life.

ESS.EES.1.4

Explain how Earth's position relative to the sun influences conditions on Earth.

How Astronomers Find Black Holes

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