Black holes “spit” balls of gas with the mass of planets
Every few thousand years, some unlucky star will get close enough to the black hole that the black hole, through its powerful gravity, will tear it apart, leaving behind the star only a long stream of gas, whichóry circulates wokóblack hole. According to research by Eden Girm of Harvard University, such gas streams can cluster into large objects with the mass of planets, które then ejected at tremendous speed outside the area surrounding the black hole.
One such gaseous objectów may be only a few hundred light years from our planet. Its mass ranges from the mass of Neptune to the mass of several Jupiters. These objects can glow but not brightly enough to be seen by our instruments.
– Galaxies such as Andromeda are constantly firing such gas balls in our direction as well,” said wspóauthor of the study James Guillochon of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
The spheres of gas resemble planets, but consist only of stardust. Their chemical composition can rótify depending on what part of the star they were formed from.
