The new phenomenon reminded graduate students at Ohio State of Old Faithful at Yellowstone National Park. Author: Mackenzie Bart (WBNS) Updated: 2:46 PM EST January 14, 2021
COLUMBUS, Ohio A team of astronomers from Ohio State University and NASA have found an astronomical Old Faithful .
The All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae, ASAS-SN, is a collection of telescopes that surveys the entire sky and outside of our galaxy.
Students using this technology have found a geyser-like flare in a distant galaxy.
Patrick Vallely, a co-author of the study, found a star circling a supermassive black hole.
As the star approached the black hole, mass from the star would be torn off and a flare of gas would emit.
“Old Faithful” cosmic eruption shows black hole ripping at star
You’ve heard of Old Faithful, the Yellowstone National Park geyser that erupts every hour or two, a geological phenomenon on a nearly predictable schedule.
Now, an international group of scientists who study space have discovered an astronomical “Old Faithful” – an eruption of light flashing about once every 114 days on a nearly predictable schedule. The researchers believe it is a tidal disruption event, a phenomenon that happens when a star gets so close to a black hole that the black hole “rips” away pieces of the star, causing the flare.
Extragalactic Old Faithful : Scientists Discover Galaxy That Erupts Regularly
KEY POINTS
The galaxy s next outbursts are expected to happen in April and August
It s possible that the events are caused by a tidal disruption event
A team of researchers discovered a galaxy with a rather odd behavior: it emits flares at regular intervals. What could be causing the galaxy s flares?
Galaxies that have unusually active centers are classified by astronomers as active galaxies. NASA says these centers can even produce more energy than all of the stars in the host galaxy combined.
In November of 2014, the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) spotted an outburst event, called ASASSN-14ko, in active galaxy ESO 253-3, which is 570 million light-years away from the Earth. At the time, scientists thought it was a supernova explosion, a one-time outburst.
From supernova to something much more intriguing at the core of galaxy 253-3
January 13, 2021
On 14 November 2014, a bright flash flagged the All Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae, or ASAS-SN a global network of 20 telescopes managed at Ohio State University in the U.S. The flash originated in galaxy ESO 253-3, located 570 million light-years away.
The sudden burst of energy was examined by astronomers and categorized as a likely supernova and assigned the event designation ASASSN-14ko. Six years later, Anna Payne, a NASA Graduate Fellow at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, discovered it was something much different.