Explosive stellar tussle revealed in 3D (BBC) {Eta Carinae}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Jonathan Webb
Science reporter, BBC News, Seattle

Astrophysicists studying the unstable "stellar monster" Eta Carinae have revealed new details and a 3D model of the destructive maelstrom at its heart.

Two giant stars are locked in orbit at the centre of an expanding hour-glass of matter they have spewed into space.

Every five years they swing closer together than Mars and our Sun, causing a spike in X-rays we can see on Earth.

A new model of the duelling stellar winds accounts for many of the fluctuations in the system's emissions.

The work, led by researchers at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, was presented at the American Astronomical Society's 225th meeting in Seattle.



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more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30721794 includes video of supercomputer simulation

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

1. The video is awesome...

Really let's you see what's going on and a 3d printer version is way cool.

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Nice.

[Judi Lynn]

3. 'Monster galactic mashup' as two galaxies with supermassive black holes collide

'Monster galactic mashup' as two galaxies with supermassive black holes collide
By Hannah Osborne
January 9, 2015 15:38 BST

Two galaxies with supermassive black holes are set to engage in a "monster galactic mashup".

The galaxies, called Arp 299, were spotted by Nasa's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuStar) telescope 134 million light years away.

NuStar is the first telescope able of finding where high-energy X-rays are coming from within the tangled pair. Findings show that one of the supermassive black holes is actively "gorging on gas" while the other is "snoozing away".

Andrew Ptak of Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre and author of the study that will be published in the Astrophysical Journal, said: "When galaxies collide, gas is sloshed around and driven into their respective nuclei, fuelling the growth of black holes and the formation of stars.

"We want to understand the mechanisms that trigger the black holes to turn on and start consuming the gas."

More:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/monster-galactic-mashup-two-galaxies-supermassive-black-holes-collide-1482717