Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2021 April 27

                     Animation: Black Hole Destroys Star
         Video Illustration Credit: DESY, Science Communication Lab

   Explanation: What happens if a star gets too close to a black hole? The
   black hole can rip it apart -- but how? It's not the high gravitational
   attraction itself that's the problem -- it's the difference in
   gravitational pull across the star that creates the destruction. In the
   featured animated video illustrating this disintegration, you first see
   a star approaching the black hole. Increasing in orbital speed, the
   star's outer atmosphere is ripped away during closest approach. Much of
   the star's atmosphere disperses into deep space, but some continues to
   orbit the black hole and forms an accretion disk. The animation then
   takes you into the accretion disk while looking toward the black hole.
   Including the strange visual effects of gravitational lensing, you can
   even see the far side of the disk. Finally, you look along one of the
   jets being expelled along the spin axis. Theoretical models indicate
   that these jets not only expel energetic gas, but create energetic
   neutrinos -- one of which may have been seen recently on Earth.

                   Tomorrow's picture: polaris deep field
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.
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