Holey Light

Non-Spinning Black Hole  (Simple Illustration by Tetra quark)

In the “Silent Night” of a black hole, darkness generally reigns.

Scientists now say “generally” because it was recently discovered that light can indeed emanate from a black hole.  How is this possible, when it seems as though gravity can drag every last flicker into the holey depths?

Lulu Chang of Digital Trends explains that sometimes “material from surrounding space falls into [black holes] and releases violent bursts of light.”  The “incredible amount of energy” that is emitted in such circumstances “can manifest itself as light.”

This type of light was so strong in June 2015 that scientists at Kyoto University were able to observe it “with naught more than a 20 cm. telescope.”

Chang concludes:  …science is always rewriting itself.

Resources

http://news.yahoo.com/apparently-actually-see-light-coming-004722480.html

Copyright January 10, 2016 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved