But Juri Poutanen, at the Tuorla Observatory in Finland and his University of Turku team, there recently accurately measured a black hole system called MAXI J1820+070 (and then had an artist render the data at right) with its hat tipped quite noticably (about 40 degrees) to one side, as though it were at a rakish nightclub angle.
Here's the latest, from Space.com -- and. . . I am taken by the idea of it, indeed:
. . .“To determine the 3D orientation of the orbit, one additionally needs to know the position angle of the system on the sky, meaning how the system is turned with respect to the direction to the North on the sky. This was measured using polarimetric techniques,” says Juri Poutanen.
The results published in the Science magazine open interesting prospects towards studies of black hole formation and evolution of such systems, as such extreme misalignment is hard to get in many black hole formation and binary evolution scenarios.
“The difference of more than 40 degrees between the orbital axis and the black hole spin was completely unexpected. Scientists have often assumed this difference to be very small when they have modeled the behavior of matter in a curved time space around a black hole. The current models are already really complex, and now the new findings force us to add a new dimension to them,” Poutanen states. . . .
I picture it as (a vast, several light years across!) version of the head of a young Sly Stone (or Marvin Gaye if you prefer!), offering some smoldering ballad, or bumpy anthem. . . under a hot overhead stage-light -- with that fedora dipped strategically -- below one eye. . . and, that makes me grin. Onward, into to new, large but fluffy wheeling snow-flakes, this evening, again. . . more shoveling ahead. Heh.
नमस्ते
No comments:
Post a Comment