Tag: black hole

NASA Scientist Reveals Potential Black Hole Home for ET

 

Article by Sean Martin                            March 14, 2020                             (express.co.uk)

• NASA astrophysicist Jeremy Schnittman saw the 2014 movie ‘Interstellar’ in which it’s star, Matthew McConaughey, goes in search of a habitable planet for humans to live on as Earth is dying. The film’s scientists discover planets orbiting a black hole which could sustain life. Schnittman wanted to test the real-life feasibility of whether energy given off by a black hole could be enough to support life.

• Schnittman wrote a paper on it, and it was published in the journal arXiv. In it he says that “the Sun provides almost all the energy necessary for life on Earth to survive. Without it’s constant heat flux, the oceans would likely freeze over in a matter of days.” Likewise, black holes can provide their own energy source, in the form of radiation from hot, accreting gasses. The friction generated by ‘accretion discs’, ie: materials or objects orbiting a black hole that are constantly pushed and shoved by the extreme gravitational force, could produce a tremendous amount of energy. This could replace the star (Sun) allowing life to exist. (see 37 second video below of flaring black hole)

• Schnittman notes that the radiation energy coming from a black hole would be potentially “lethal” to any life. “All known life forms require an energy gradient in order to survive, so an all-pervasive black-body radiation background would probably not be very conducive to complex life.”

• In reality, there are factors that would prevent the Earth from turning to a radiant black hole for its survival if our Sun was dying. First, the Sun is too small to become a black hole. It would need to be about 20 times larger. It is predicted that the Sun will use up its supply of hydrogen in about 5 billion years, when it will condense into a white dwarf. Second, as the nearest black hole is located 6,523 light-years away, or 6,523 x 5.88 trillion miles, even if we could find a habitable planet nearby, this is too far for humans to reach (with our current technology that is).

 

            Jeremy Schnittman

The amount of energy given off by a black hole could be enough to support life, expanding the possibilities of where humans should search for extraterrestrials. NASA astrophysicist Jeremy Schnittman based his research on the hit Hollywood movie Interstellar, in which the main character, played by Matthew McConaughey, goes in search of a habitable planet for humans to live on as Earth is dying. In the 2014 movie, the scientists discovered planets orbiting a black hole which could sustain life. Mr Schnittman wanted to test the real-life feasibility of this.

The scientist said accretion discs, made up of materials and objects orbiting a black hole, could allow life to exist.

The friction generated by these discs as they are pushed and shoved by the extreme gravitational force is so large that it can produce a tremendous amount of energy, depending on the size of the black hole.

While the Sun gives Earth energy through light and heat, the radiation and energy from the accretion discs might prove just as valuable.

Mr Schnittman wrote in the paper published in the journal arXiv: “On the down side, the Sun provides almost all the energy necessary for life on Earth to survive. Without it’s constant heat flux, the oceans would likely freeze over in a matter of days.

“But we also know that many astrophysical black holes can provide their own energy source, in the form of radiation from hot, accreting gas.
“In fact, for most observable black holes, this accretion power outweighs anything attainable from nuclear fusion by many orders of magnitude.

37 second video depicting black hole flaring (UoS News Desk YouTube)

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NASA Scientist Reveals Potential Black Hole Home For ET

 

Article by Sean Martin                    October 16, 2019                       (express.co.uk)

• After watching the 2014 movie “Interstellar” starring Matthew McConaughey, NASA astrophysicist Jeremy Schnittman decided to research whether exoplanets could actually sustain life by receiving radiant energy by orbiting a black hole. Schnittman concluded that it is possible.

• In a paper published in the journal arXiv, Schnittman writes: “[T]he Sun provides almost all the energy necessary for life on Earth to survive. Without it’s constant heat flux, the oceans would likely freeze over in a matter of days.” If there were ‘accretion discs’ being pushed and shoved by the extreme gravitational force of a black hole, it would create a tremendous amount of energy equal to the amount of radiant energy that the Sun provides the Earth. This accretion power outweighs anything attainable from nuclear fusion by many orders of magnitude.

• On the downside, however, Schnittman noted that the energy and radiation coming from a black hole would be potentially “lethal” to any life. Says Schnittman, “All known life forms require an energy gradient in order to survive, so an all-pervasive black-body radiation background would probably not be very conducive to complex life.”

• A star would need to have around twenty times the mass of our Sun if it is to form a black hole after its death and collapse. Our Sun is far too small to ever to turn into a black hole.

 

The amount of energy given off by a black hole could be enough to support life, expanding the possibilities of where humans should search for extraterrestrials. NASA astrophysicist Jeremy Schnittman based his research on the hit Hollywood movie Interstellar, in which the main character, played by Matthew McConaughey, goes in search of a habitable planet for humans to live on as Earth is dying. In the 2014 movie, the scientists discovered planets orbiting a black hole which could sustain life. Mr Schnittman wanted to test the real-life feasibility of this.

The scientist said accretion discs, made up of materials and objects orbiting a black hole, could allow life to exist.

The friction generated by these discs as they are pushed and shoved by the extreme gravitational force is so large that it can produce a tremendous amount of energy, depending on the size of the black hole.

While the Sun gives Earth energy through light and heat, the radiation and energy from the accretion discs might prove just as valuable.

Mr Schnittman wrote in the paper published in the journal arXiv: “On the down side, the Sun provides almost all the energy necessary for life on Earth to survive. Without it’s constant heat flux, the oceans would likely freeze over in a matter of days.

       Jeremy Schnittman

“But we also know that many astrophysical black holes can provide their own energy source, in the form of radiation from hot, accreting gas.

“In fact, for most observable black holes, this accretion power outweighs anything attainable from nuclear fusion by many orders of magnitude.

“So one could naturally imagine that replacing the Sun with an accreting black hole might not be the end of life on Earth after all.”

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ESA Antenna Could Intercept Alien Messages From Black Holes, Scientists Say

by Niño Cabatingan                      May 10. 2019                        (ibtimes.com)

• When launched, the next-generation ‘Laser Interferometer Space Antenna’ (LISA – pictured above) developed by the European Space Agency will be the first-ever space-based gravitational wave detector. It will consist of space probes arranged in a triangular formation with distance of about 2.5 million kilometers from each other.

• Professor Marek Abramowicz, the lead researcher from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, believes that LISA may also be able to detect extraterrestrial communication. If the space antenna array were placed around a black hole, it could possibly decipher encrypted messages from an advanced alien civilization. Abramowicz said that that there is a chance of finding such an alien civilization if we know where to look. Technologically advanced civilizations may use the black hole’s innermost stable orbit to send messages to the rest of the galaxy.

• Abramowicz and his colleagues suggest that in the Milky Way, the central black hole called Sagittarius A* would be the ideal spot for a technologically advanced alien civilization to broadcast communications for the rest of the galaxy. “In order to be recognized as (a message), a gravitational wave Messenger beacon must emit a clearly unnatural signal, such as a persistent emission of gravitational waves at a constant frequency,” added Abramowicz.

• “We argue that if a sophisticated extraterrestrial civilization would decide to construct a device to study the massive black hole in the galactic center, or to extract energy from it, or even for intentions unfathomable to the human mind, this device can also serve as a Messenger,” Abramowicz explained.

• The ESA’s LISA is scheduled to launch into space to study gravitational waves by the year 2034.

 

A sophisticated space-based antenna developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) is designed to measure gravitational waves, but it could possibly also decipher encrypted messages from an advanced alien civilization, a new paper suggests.

A team of physicists suggested that the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) would be able to detect messages from an advanced alien civilization if it is placed around a black hole where the hypothetical extraterrestrials could look to.

LISA is the next-generation space instrument that is designed by ESA to detect and measure gravitational waves from space. If successfully launched, it will be the first-ever space-based gravitational wave detector. It will consist of space probes arranged in a triangular formation with distance of about 2.5 million kilometers from each other.

Professor Marek Abramowicz, the lead researcher from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, believes that LISA is the answer to uncovering alien life in the Milky Way galaxy.

“Gravitational waves phenomena are omnipresent in the universe and with sufficient technological prowess relatively straightforward to detect,” the researchers said, adding they believe LISA plays a role in detecting extraterrestrial communication.

With the number of habitable planets in our galaxy and the estimation of the existence of advanced alien life using the Drake Equation, Abramowicz said that that there is a chance of finding one if we know where to look.

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