APOD
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.
Evidence for Frame Dragging Black Holes
Explanation: Gravity can do more than floor you. According to recent measurements of a star system thought to contain a black hole , it can spin you too. This effect, called frame-dragging , is most prominent near massive, fast spinning objects. Now, a team led by W. Cui ( MIT ) has used the orbiting Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer to search for it near a system thought to contain a black hole . Cui's team claim that matter in this system gets caught up and spun around the black hole at just the rate expected from frame-dragging. Such discoveries help scientists better understand gravity itself.
| Date | November 7, 1997 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Drawing Credit & Copyright: J. Bergeron, Sky & Telescope Magazine |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |