First Binary Stars Found Near Milky Way's Black Hole
Using the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope in Chile, scientists have discovered the first binary star system, named D9, orbiting near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Facts
- Using the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope in Chile, scientists have discovered the first binary star system, named D9, orbiting near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.[1][2]
- The binary system consists of two stars with masses of 2.80 and 0.73 solar masses, orbiting each other approximately every 372 days at a distance of approximately 26K light-years from Earth.[3][4]
- D9 is estimated to be 2.7M years old and shows signs of gas and dust around the stars, suggesting it "formed in the vicinity of the supermassive black hole."[1][5]
- The discovery challenges previous assumptions that binary stars could not exist near supermassive black holes due to extreme gravitational forces.[2][6]
- Scientists predict the binary system will merge into a single star within approximately one million years due to the black hole's gravitational influence. The environment near supermassive black holes might be stable enough for planet formation.[1][3][6]
- The discovery confirms an accidental observation from US scientist Karl Jansky in the 1930s, which posited that a binary star might exist near the center of the Milky Way. Jansky made the finding in the course of researching radio signals traveling between the US and Europe.[2]
Sources: [1]ABC, [2]ABC News, [3]Astronomy Magazine, [4]Nature, [5]Space and [6]Cosmos.
Narratives
- Narrative A, as provided by GB News. The discovery of a binary star system near Sagittarius A* proves that extreme gravity isn't always destructive to star systems. This finding hints at the potential for planet formation around young stars in such environments, suggesting that black holes might not be as inhospitable as thought, thus expanding our cosmic understanding and observational possibilities.
- Narrative B, as provided by NASA. Planets, especially Earth-like ones, can't live near black holes due to extreme conditions — intense space weather, time dilation disrupting communication, overwhelming radiation and heat, a flood of neutrinos causing further heating, and lacking protective atmospheres against these hazards, making life unsustainable. We shouldn't get our hopes up about finding planets with anything resembling life in the vicinity of this binary system.
