2001 SPACE SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID |
Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| LIGHT ON THE EDGE OF OBLIVION REVEALS BLACK HOLES
SPIN | G01-036 | 04/30/01 |
00:03:50 | As if black holes couldn't be more
menacing, astronomers now have observational evidence that at least
some of them spin about like whirlpools, wrapping up the fabric of
spacetime with them.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): Spinning Black
Hole Animation
- Almost every kind of object in space spins, such as
planets, stars, galaxies. With black holes, it's much harder to
directly see they are spinning, because they don't have a solid
surface that you can watch spin around. We can, however, see the
light emitted from matter plunging into the black hole. The matter,
cannibalized from the black holes binary companion star, whips
frantically around the black hole before it is lost forever.
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (2): Bending Space And
Time - The Spinning Black Hole - A spinning black hole
modifies the fabric of spacetime near it. The spinning allows matter
to orbit at a closer distance than if it were not spinning, and the
closer matter can get the faster it can orbit. These animations
examine a spinning black hole. The spacetime fabric, represented by
the grid overlay, is bent.
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| ITEM (3): A Non Spinning
Black Hole - These animations show a non spinning black
hole. Note that spacetime fabric, represented by the grid overlay is
not bent.
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| ITEM (4): ROSSI X-Ray Timing
Explorer ANIMATION - Dr. Tod Strohmayer of NASA's Goddard
Space Flight Center has studied one such black hole system with the
Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer and found unique patterns in the X-ray
radiation that have previously only been seen in spinning neutron
stars. With these new parameters, he could verify that a black hole,
like a neutron star, can spin.
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