Astronomer Anna Ciurlo and her team at UCLA have noticed that an unusual object in space, coined ‘X7’, has significantly changed shape. The new shape suggests that X7 is probably made up of debris or a cloud of gas and dust that resulted from two stars crashing into each other. By studying 20 years’ worth of observations, the researchers found that X7 has expanded to more than twice its original size. This discovery could shed new light on the mysteries of the universe.
Quoted in ScienceDaily, Anna Ciurlo said that no other object in this region has displayed such an extreme evolution.
A recent study by UCLA and the Keck Observatory has found that X7,which has a mass similar to 50 Earths, is likely to break apart in the coming decades. The gas and dust that makes up X7 will be pulled towards the nearby black hole, known as Sagittarius A. X7 is currently moving in a path that takes around 170 years to complete one orbit, however this orbit may never be completed, as it is pre-dicted to be torn apart by the black hole around 2036. The study was published in The Astrophysical Journal on February 21st.
Sagittarius A, an enormous black hole that weighs as much as 4 million suns and is positioned 26,000 light years away from Earth, is at the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Although it was only recently captured in the first-ever image of a black hole by the Event Horizon Telescope in April 2019, scientists have been studying Sagittarius A for many years by examining the movements of stars that orbit around it. By doing so, they were able to confirm the existence of this cosmic giant.
According to the co-author Mark Morris, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy quoted in Scitech daily, it is anticipated that X7 will be ultimately torn apart by the strong tidal forces exerted by the galactic black hole before even one orbit is completed.
It is anticipated that X7 will be ultimately torn apart by the strong tidal forces exerted by the galactic black hole before even one orbit is completed.”
Study shows that the shape of X7 has changed with time, morphing from a bow-shock-like structure to a more elongated, linear structure as it approaches the black hole. X7 has lengthened considerably as it has approached the central black hole, but there is no evidence that this elongation has been accompanied by a corresponding significant change in surface brightness with time.
Study shows that the shape of X7 has changed with time.”
In 2020, astronomers got better pictures of X7 and noticed it might be breaking apart. This is interesting because X7 is behaving differently from all the other stars around it. Scientists will continue to monitor X7 for changes, and to observe its eventual tearing apart by the black hole.