In the Milky Way, single star systems like our Sun are uncommon.
According to statistics, 85% of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy belong to multi-star systems such as binary and triple stars, if the stars have more mass, this ratio will increase even more, however recently astronomers Literature has discovered that this law does not seem to apply near the center of the Milky Way
Devin Chu of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) led his research team analyzing stars near the black hole at the center of the Milky Way. They used the Keck Observatory in Hawaii to spend ten years tracking 28 stars orbiting the supermassive black hole.
In astronomy, an optical binary is the case when two stars appear to be close together when viewed from Earth. There are two types of optical binary: visual binary, which is a true binary system, and apparent optical binary, two stars that appear close, but are in fact very far apart.
The black hole at the center of the Milky Way also known as Sagittarius A*, about 44 million km in diameter, 4.3 million times the mass of the Sun, is a typical supermassive black hole. The environment near a black hole is very complex and chaotic, its gravity will strongly interfere with celestial bodies, even swallowing stars. Therefore, scientists generally believe that it is difficult for new stars to appear near black holes.
However, of the stars the researchers tracked, 16 are relatively young, they were born just over 6 million years ago, and they are all very massive, with masses usually 10 times that of the stars. mass of the Sun.
This raises many questions. The reason is that it is difficult to create new stars near black holes, and these young stars do not have enough time to migrate here after forming elsewhere. On the other hand, scientists analyzed the spectra of these stars and found that they were all single stars.
As we mentioned above, multi-star systems are the normal and common state of the Milky Way, especially for massive stars, the probability of forming binary systems or even three-star system is relatively high.
The researchers sorted out the observations and concluded that the highest probability for stars to form a binary system near the black hole at the center of the Milky Way is about 47 percent. All seem to be related to the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*.
The researchers suggest two possibilities, the first is that the black hole’s gravity broke up the original binary system, and the other star was thrown away under the black hole’s gravity. This is workable in all situations from theory to practice. Scientists have discovered many stars that “run away” from the Milky Way at high speed, and they often fly towards the outer Milky Way at more than 1.6 million km/h.
Another possibility is that the stars are actually much older than we see. The gravity of a black hole is strong enough to break binary star systems, causing them to collide and merge. This could also explain why such young stars appear in such a harsh environment.
In a way, these stars can be considered lucky stars. Because it is extremely dangerous to run around a black hole, because in such a situation, many celestial bodies are likely to be ripped apart and swallowed up. For objects close to a black hole, the scariest thing is the tidal force of the black hole.
We all know that the gravitational force of two objects is related to the distance between them. The gravitational force on the side of the star near the black hole is much stronger than on the other side, when the gravitational difference between the two sides is greater than the gravity of the star itself, the star will stretch in its own direction of motion. its like noodles.
From a sphere to an ellipse, and finally a long rod. The next thing the star faces is the fate of disintegration, and the ripped apart star will rapidly approach the black hole until it is swallowed up.
While a black hole may seem so terrifying that nothing can stand against it, it actually dies over time.
While the black hole is devouring matter, it is also radiating matter outward. In other words, it will not only expand endlessly, but also consume itself. Scientists have calculated that a black hole with a mass of 100 billion solar masses would evaporate within 2×10^100 years, and during the black hole’s evolution, if not enough sucking matter were to be consumed. in, the black hole will accelerate the decay process.
However, considering the existence of human civilization, we can hardly see the end of the black hole. But the study of black holes has become a necessity of mankind, because behind it there are so many mysteries that we do not know.