Portrait of a Doomed Asteroid

A new study provides a possible explanation of mysterious X-ray flares detected by the Chandra K-ray Observatory for several years in the region of Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*. The study suggests a cloud around Sgr A*, a supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, which contains hundreds of trillions of asteroids and comets that have been stripped from their parent stars. The flares occur when asteroids of six miles or larger in radius are consumed by the black hole. An asteroid that undergoes a close encounter with another object, such as a star or planet, can be thrown into an orbit headed towards Sgr A*. If the asteroid passes within about 100 million miles of the black hole, roughly the distance between the Earth and the sun, it is torn into pieces by the tidal forces from the black hole. These fragments would then be vaporized by friction as they pass through the hot, thin gas flowing onto Sgr A*, similar to a meteor heating up and glowing as it falls through Earth's atmosphere. A flare is produced and eventually the remains of the asteroid are swallowed by the black hole.
 Sagittarius A

 एक बर्बाद क्षुद्रग्रह के पोर्ट्रेट
एक नए अध्ययन से कई वर्षों के लिए चंद्र K-रे वेधशाला से एक * धनु का क्षेत्र, या एक * SGR में पाया रहस्यमय एक्स - रे flares का एक संभव विवरण प्रदान करता है. अध्ययन SGR एक * चारों ओर एक बादल, हमारी आकाशगंगा आकाशगंगा है, जो कि उनके माता - पिता सितारों से छीन कर दिया गया है क्षुद्रग्रहों और धूमकेतु के अरबों के सैकड़ों शामिल हैं के केंद्र में एक विशालकाय ब्लैक होल से पता चलता है. Flares के होते है जब त्रिज्या में छह मील की दूरी पर बड़ा या क्षुद्रग्रह काला छेद से भस्म कर रहे हैं. एक छोटा तारा है कि एक सितारा या ग्रह के रूप में एक और वस्तु, के साथ एक निकट मुठभेड़ आए, SGR की दिशा में एक * अध्यक्षता में एक कक्षा में फेंक दिया जा सकता है. यदि छोटा तारा ब्लैक होल, मोटे तौर पर पृथ्वी और सूर्य के बीच की दूरी के बारे में 100 मिलियन मील की दूरी के भीतर गुजरता है, यह टुकड़ों में काला छेद से ज्वारीय बलों द्वारा अलग कर दिया जाता है. ये टुकड़े फिर घर्षण के द्वारा vaporized किया जाएगा के रूप में वे गर्म, पतली एक * SGR पर बह गैस, हीटिंग और चमक के रूप में यह पृथ्वी के वायुमंडल के माध्यम से गिर जाता है उल्का के लिए समान के माध्यम से गुजरती हैं. एक चमक का उत्पादन किया है और अंत में छोटा तारा के अवशेष काला छेद द्वारा निगल रहे हैं.)

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