Spaghetti

Schematic representation of the effect - “Let there be four objects that fall on a massive planet. - Each object follows a slightly different path. - Now the diamond has stretched slightly. "

As spaghettification (alternatively Spaghettifizierung ) is figuratively referred to the process of deformation of objects, which occurs when the object is in sufficient proximity for a black hole device. Black holes are so massive that the gravitation emanating from them not only catches objects: Since the force of attraction increases with decreasing distance, stronger forces act on the side of the object facing the black hole than on the opposite side. This will stretch the object and tear it apart. This effect increases as the object approaches the black hole. The term comes from the shape of spaghetti . He was coined in 1988 by Stephen Hawking in his book A Brief History of Time (German: A Brief History of Time ) .

In April 2014, this process was observed in the gas cloud G2 , which is attracted and torn apart by the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A * .

In December 2016 it was reported that the extremely bright star explosion ASASSN-15lh observed at the beginning of 2016 could probably not have been caused by a supernova, but by such a spaghetti of a star of low mass through a very massive, very fast rotating black hole.

literature

• Maike Pollmann: Wissenschaft-online.de What do astronomers call spaghetti? explained by Stephen Hawking : A Brief History of Time , 1988.
• Daniel Lingenhöhl, Anja Blänsdorf: How black holes make spaghetti . Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-499-62495-7 .
• Gottfried Beyvers: Elvira Krusch: Small 1 × 1 of the theory of relativity, Einstein's physics with mathematics of the intermediate level . Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-540-85201-8 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ People in the black hole: Roasted, not noodles. Spiegel Online, April 15, 2005, accessed May 11, 2016 . 
2. ↑ Maike Pollmann: What do astronomers call spaghetti? Retrieved March 28, 2010 . 
3. ↑ Spaghetti near a black hole. (PDF) Retrieved March 28, 2010 . 
4. ↑ Milky Way snack time: Supermassive black hole to consume gas cloud. rt.com, March 7, 2014, accessed April 3, 2014 . 
5. ↑ Brighter than 500 billion suns: The flash of light was probably not a supernova after all. heise.de, December 13, 2016, accessed on December 14, 2016 .