Henize 2-10 Star Formation
Henize 2-10 Star Formation
Melanie Ficarra
4/8/22
How do stars form?
Stars form in stellar nurseries which can be found in nebulae. An extremely well known nebula with stellar nurseries is the Orion Nebula. In a nebula, there is a plethora of dust and gas. These materials eventually become dense enough where what are called knots are formed. Because of the increase in mass, gravity will begin to affect the knots and they will start to collapse in on themselves. When gravity affects the knots enough, they become hot enough to initiate fusion. This fusion gives the star the energy it needs to live off of.
What is a black hole?
Most black holes form from star death. When a more massive star dies, it can collapse in on itself enough where it actually explodes; this is a supernova. A supernova occurrence is the main way black holes form. At the center of a black hole is the singularity, which is extremely dense due to the immense amounts of mass at one small point in space. Because of the large amount of mass, the black hole will have so much gravitational attraction that not even light can escape the pull.
The phenomenon!
The Henize 2-10 galaxy is approximately 30 million light years away from Earth. This galaxy is a dwarf starburst galaxy with a smaller than normal black hole at the center. About 230 light years away from the black hole in the galaxy is an area with lots of dust and gas. Dr. Amy Reines from Montana State University made the discovery that the black hole at the center of Henize 2-10 is aiding in the formation of stars in the galaxy.
Materials close enough to the event horizon will be sucked in and spaghettified, however, the magnetic fields surrounding black holes will actually force some of the material to be shot out in the form of plasma jets. Normal to large sized black holes shoot plasma jets out at speeds approaching the speed of light. However for smaller black holes, they only move at about 4.47e5 m/s. Since they are moving slower, this means they will not be as hot. As these plasma jets move throughout space, they will naturally cool down.
Reference Links:
https://hubblesite.org/science/stars-and-nebulas
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/black-holes
It is interesting to think about the vast variety of black holes there are, especially this one being noted as of the slower and cooler ones. This makes me wonder how long, if possible, it takes for a black hole to die and evaporate. As well, what would happen to the surrounding area of the black area, would there be an effect due to its death?
ReplyDelete-Emma Levy
This is a very interesting article. You noted that this was occurring in a starburst galaxy, and it makes me wonder what impact less massive black holes have on star formation. More particularly, are dwarf galaxies more likely to have higher rates of star formation due to the lower mass black holes at their center.
ReplyDeleteIt is fascinating to see that the universe acts like a whole completed system that each component of the system is important to keep the universe from functioning. I begin to wonder what's the purpose of the existence.
ReplyDeleteRongying Lin
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