Youngest-Ever Nearby Black Hole Discovered   
       
   Nov. 14, 2010:  Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have found   
   evidence of the youngest black hole known to exist in our cosmic neighborhood.   
   The 30-year-old object provides a unique opportunity to watch a black hole   
   develop from infancy.   
       
   The black hole is a remnant of SN 1979C, a supernova in the galaxy M100   
   approximately 50 million light years from Earth. Data from Chandra, NASA's   
   Swift satellite, the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton and the German ROSAT   
   observatory revealed a bright source of X-rays that has remained steady during   
   observation from 1995 to 2007. This suggests the object is a black hole being   
   fed either by material falling into it from the supernova or a binary   
   companion.   
   [...]   
   This composite image shows a supernova within the galaxy M100 that may contain   
   the youngest known black hole in our cosmic neighborhood. [more]   
       
   "If our interpretation is correct, this is the nearest example where the birth   
   of a black hole has been observed," said Daniel Patnaude of the    
   arvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass. who led the   
   study.   
       
   Scientists think SN 1979C, first discovered by an amateur astronomer in 1979,   
   formed when a star about 20 times more massive than the sun collapsed. Many   
   new black holes in the distant universe previously have been detected in the   
   form of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). However, SN 1979C is different.  Not only is   
   it closer, but also it belongs a class of supernovas unlikely to produce   
   gamma-ray bursts.  According to theory, most new black holes are not announced   
   by a bright GRB.   
   [...]   
   Click to view an animation of a supernova forming a black hole. "This may be   
   the first time the common way of making a black hole has been observed," said   
   co-author Abraham Loeb, also of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for   
   Astrophysics. "However, it is very difficult to detect this type of black hole   
   birth because decades of X-ray observations are needed to make the case."   
       
   The idea of a black hole with an observed age of only about 30 years is   
   consistent with recent theoretical work. In 2005, a theory was presented that   
   the bright optical light of this supernova was powered by a jet from a black   
   hole that was unable to penetrate the hydrogen envelope of the star to form a   
   GRB. X-ray data from Chandra and the other observatories fit this theory very   
   well.   
       
   Although the evidence points to a newly formed black hole in SN 1979C, another   
   intriguing possibility exists:  A young, rapidly spinning neutron star with a   
   powerful wind of high energy particles could be responsible for the X-ray   
   emission. This would make the object in SN 1979C the youngest and brightest   
   example of such a "pulsar wind nebula" and the youngest known neutron star.   
   The Crab pulsar, the best-known example of a bright pulsar wind nebula, is   
   about 950 years old.  More observations will either confirm or rule out this   
   alternate explanation; for now, however, the black hole hypothesis appears to   
   be  more compelling.   
       
   For more information and images, visit the Chandra home page: ht   
   p://chandra.nasa.gov   
       
       
   Editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA   
       
   More Information   
   The results described in thi story will appear in the New Astronomy journal in   
   a paper by Patnaude, Loeb, and Christine Jones of the Harvard-Smithsonian   
   Center for Astrophysics. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,   
   Ala., manages the Chandra program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate   
   in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's   
   science and flight operations from Cambridge.   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.56   
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