One of The Biggest Black Holes Ever Detected Is Actually Bigger Than We Thought

SPACE29 March 2023

ByMICHELLE STARR

 An illustration of a black hole showing how the gravitational field warps light traveling from behind the black hole. (ESA/Hubble, Digitized Sky Survey, Nick Risinger/skysurvey.org, N. Bartmann)

The bending of light as its path veers around a giant, invisible mass has revealed the presence of one of the biggest black holes yet detected in the Universe.

In a galaxy at the center of a massive cluster named Abell 1201, some 2.7 billion light-years away, lurks a cosmic colossus. Not content with being supermassive, the monster is an ultramassive black hole, clocking in at around 32.7 billion times the mass of the Sun.

The new figure exceeds previous estimates by at least 7 billion solar masses, demonstrating the power of curved light for measuring masses with precision.

"This particular black hole, which is roughly 30 billion times the mass of our Sun, is one of the biggest ever detected and on the upper limit of how large we believe black holes can theoretically become, so it is an extremely exciting discovery," explains physicist James Nightingale of Durham University in the UK.

There are a lot of black holes out there in the Universe, but unless they're actively accreting material – a process that produces a great deal of light as the material heats up prior to falling into the black hole – they're not easy to spot. Black holes themselves emit no light we can detect, so we have to find them by looking for the effect they have on stuff around them.

Diagram illustrating gravitational lensing. (NASA, ESA & L. Calçada)

One way we can find these black holes is looking for an effect called gravitational lensing. This occurs when space-time itself is warped by mass; imagine space-time as a rubber sheet, and the mass as a heavy weight on it. Any light traveling through that region of space-time has to travel along a curved path, and that can look very interesting to an observer watching from afar.

The light warps, stretches, and often becomes magnified, which means we receive distorted images of objects in the background, such as distant galaxies. This lensing mass can be small, like a stellar-mass black hole, in which case the phenomenon is known as microlensing; or large, like a cluster of galaxies. Astronomers can study this warped light to probe the properties of the lensing mass.

The central galaxy, or brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) of Abell 1201, is a large, diffuse elliptical galaxy well-known as a strong gravitational lens. A galaxy far beyond the BCG appears alongside it as an elongated smear, like an eyebrow closely wrapped around its outskirts.

This smear was discovered in 2003; in 2017, astronomers found a second, fainter smear, even closer to the galactic center.

 

Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer of Abell 1201 BCG, clearly showing the lensed galaxy around as a smear in the top right quadrant. (Smith et al., MNRAS, 2017)

This implies, astronomers proposed, the presence of a very large black hole at the center of the BCG, but the data available was not detailed enough to resolve the central mass, or reveal more about what was in there.

Nightingale and his colleagues not only had access to more recent observations, but devised the tools to understand them. They conducted hundreds of thousands of simulations of light moving through the Universe, altering the mass of the black hole at the galaxy's center, looking for results that replicate the lensing we observe with Abell 1021 BCG.

All but one of their models preferred a massive black hole at the center of the galaxy; and the best fit for the mass of that black hole was 32.7 billion times the mass of the Sun. That pushes it well into ultramassive territory, black holes more massive than 10 billion Suns, and close to the theoretical upper limit for black hole masses of 50 billion Suns.

It's also a mass that puts Abell 1021 BCG's black hole in the top 10 most massive black holes we've discovered to date. The event horizon's diameter would span more than 1,290 astronomical units. For context, Pluto's distance from the Sun is a mere 40 astronomical units. It's mind-blowing to think about.

The properties of Abell 1201 as a gravitational lens are pretty special, and it's possible that the detailed measurement of the mass of the black hole in the BCG would not be quite so achievable in other circumstances, but Nightingale's team is confident that their methods have promise for detecting and weighing other black holes in the distant Universe.

"[G]ravitational lensing makes it possible to study inactive black holes, something not currently possible in distant galaxies," Nightingale says.

"This approach could let us detect many more black holes beyond our local Universe and reveal how these exotic objects evolved further back in cosmic time."

And perhaps offer some clues as to how they manage to grow as large as they do.

The research has been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Time lapse video shows large asteroid's "very close" flyby of Earth


BY EMILY MAE CZACHOR

MARCH 28, 2023 /

A large asteroid zipped past Earth last week, in a relatively rare event that astronomers described as one "very close encounter" with our planet.

The space rock, called 2023 DZ2 by NASA, reached its shortest distance from the atmosphere on Friday and Saturday. But it had been steadily approaching for some time before that. As the asteroid moved along its trajectory at speeds that, scientists estimated, exceeded 17,400 miles per hour — slower than a number of other cosmic objects that NASA regularly tracks and studies — astronomers at an observatory in Italy watched 2023 DZ2 and recorded its path through the sky.

Compiled using multiple exposures that each lasted 30-seconds, a glittering time-lapse video shows the asteroid traveling closer to Earth on March 22 and becoming brighter over the course of just two minutes.

The video was created by the Virtual Telescope Project, an initiative from the Italian astrophysicist and astronomer Gianluca Masi and the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory that operates in Ceccano near the central coast of western Italy. The project uses robotic telescopes to observe space objects and cosmic events, which are then shared or live-streamed online.

This time-lapse sequence shows the path of the asteroid 2023 DZ2, which flew close to the Earth as it passed by last week.THE VIRTUAL TELESCOPE PROJECT

"At the imaging time, asteroid 2023 DZ2 was at about 1.8 millions of km from us and was safely approaching our planet, while getting brighter and brigther," the Virtual Telescope Project said when introducing the time-lapse sequence.

Astronomers at the observatory of La Palma in Spain's Canary Islands originally discovered the asteroid in February and announced the finding in March. Although for a time the asteroid appeared on the Sentry risk table, which keeps a running list of space objects that could potentially impact Earth, officials removed 2023 DZ2 from that list as it neared the planet.

The asteroid measured between 140 feet and 310 feet long, according to NASA, which noted later that 2023 DZ2's estimated average size was about 164 feet in diameter. That size is similar to the length of an Olympic-sized swimming pool or a commercial airplane.

  NASA/CBS

Although scientists determined ahead of time that the rock did not pose any threat to Earth, officials still deemed the flyby notable because it passed the planet at quite a close range — slightly less than half the average distance between the Earth and moon's respective orbits, which is about 108,000 miles from the ground.

"While close approaches are a regular occurrence, one by an asteroid of this size (140-310 ft) happens only about once per decade, providing a unique opportunity for science," the Twitter account NASA Asteroid Watch wrote last week. The agency had previously assigned a rarity score of three to 2023 DZ2 because of its size and anticipated trajectory.


"Astronomers with the International Asteroid Warning Network are using this close approach to learn as much as possible about 2023 DZ2 in a short time period - good practice for #PlanetaryDefense in the future if a potential asteroid threat were ever discovered," the account wrote in a separate tweet shared around the same time.

Ahead of the asteroid's closest approach to Earth on Friday and Saturday, when scientists suggested that people with small or standard telescopes may be able to spot it themselves, the official NASA Twitter account said current observations indicate "there is no known threat" of space objects impacting Earth for at least the next 100 years.

 

Canada to Get First Offshore Wind Marshalling Hub

• PORTS & LOGISTICS

March 28, 2023, by Adnan Durakovic

Esbjerg-headquartered Blue Water Shipping has signed a concession agreement with Novaporte, a transportation, logistics, and green energy development in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Novaporte

Both parties aim to work together, along with equity partner Membertou First Nation, to develop a major marshalling hub in Sydney, Nova Scotia for offshore wind energy servicing the Northeast Atlantic US and Eastern Canada.

This agreement between Blue Water Shipping and Novaporte establishes them as the exclusive marshalling port operator at Novaporte, with signatories committed to jointly carrying out offshore wind development and operational planning of offshore wind port design including marshalling, pre-assembly, logistics and safety.  
 
”We wanted to partner with Blue Water Shipping because they are one of the largest port operators in the offshore wind energy space,” said Novaporte CEO, Albert Barbusci.

”We aspire to be like the Danish city of Esbjerg, where offshore wind started, and is a true leader in this space globally. If you are going to partner and learn, you should do it with the best! We look forward to working closely with Blue Water Shipping in the months and years to come on building out their proven model here on the East Coast, which will bring significant employment and economic development to the region.”  

Blue Water Shipping is active in logistics, with significant expertise in stevedoring and port operations in offshore wind developments.

”At Blue Water Shipping, we believe in strong and long-lasting relationships, and that’s exactly what we’re announcing today with Novaporte,” said Thomas Bek, COO Energy, Ports & Projects, Blue Water Shipping.

”Together, we’re launching the first major offshore wind port development in Canada, and we’re happy to do it with a local and highly dedicated team. Novaporte and Blue Water Shipping will offer strong and flexible solutions, together, to meet the increasing demands of the industry in the Northeast Atlantic U.S. market and we will be ready to support Nova Scotia’s offshore wind sector in the years ahead.” 

When completed, the Novaporte multi-use port facility plans to accommodate offshore wind marshalling, containers, bulk, Roll-on/roll-off cargo, logistics, hydrogen, and marine services.

”Today’s announcement is the latest step in the multi-phased development of the port,” Barbusci said.

”We will now work towards completing all the pre-development requirements, with the goal of putting shovels in the ground this year. Novaporte intends to continue our dialogue with the community as the project develops, with the target completion date of phase 1 for 2026.”  

As the offshore wind sector grows globally, there is a significant demand for sufficient marshalling facilities to support offshore developments on the northeast coast of the US in the near term, Novaporte said.

Additionally, the Province of Nova Scotia has recently announced an ambitious offshore wind and hydrogen strategy, with the initial target to build and produce 5 GW of offshore energy by 2030.  

Canada Starts Offshore Wind DevelopmentAssessments

Case studies have shown that the first critical building block for successful offshore wind projects is having access to adequate marshalling land and infrastructure.

Novaporte said that it is well-positioned to accommodate such facilities— providing a 16.5-metre harbour depth, no air obstructions, significant laydown area, flat geography, and strategic location required.

In addition to marshalling, the site is suitable to accommodate offshore operations and maintenance facilities quayside, as well as manufacturing and assembly facilities less than one kilometer away from the waterside terminal.  

”As one of Canada’s most economically active First Nation communities, Membertou is a proud equity partner in the Novaporte project and believes in the project’s ability to bring long-term economic prosperity to Cape Breton,” said Terry Paul, Chief and CEO of Membertou First Nation.

”The Mi’kmaq have been part of the Novaporte project since day one and are committed to working to realize the opportunities that exist for the development of a multi-use port facility. This project is a true example of economic reconciliation, and together we continue to work to make it a reality.” 

CTHULHU BE PRAISED
Woman survives two bites from the most toxic animal on Earth

DAVID PESCOVITZ TUE MAR 28, 2023


A woman visiting a beach near Sydney in New South Wales, Australia picked up a small shell that caught her eye. But moments later, a tiny creature dropped out onto her stomach and bit her. Twice. Turns out, the animal was a blue-ringed octopus, one of the world's most toxic animals. The cephalopods' venom is rich in tetrodotoxin, an extremely potent poison that's also found in pufferfish, ocean sunfish, rough-skinned news, moon snails, and a few other species. The venom is a neurotoxin which will slowly paralyze all of your muscles until you are unable to breathe.

"A blue-ringed octopus bite is a rare call for us, but they are extremely venomous," NSW Ambulance inspector Christian Holmes said in a Facebook post. "The patient was experiencing some abdominal pain around the bite site so paramedics applied pressure and a cold compress before taking her to Royal North Shore hospital to be monitored and treated for further symptoms."

Amazingly, the woman survived.

Bruce Power issues new round of Green Bonds

By Janice MacKayMarch 27, 2023 

Bruce Power has issued $600 million in Green Bonds which the company said supports Net Zero goals through clean-energy projects. This is the second issue of the bond.  Bruce Power became the first nuclear operator in the world to successfully issue Green Bonds in 2021, raising $500 million. That money was invested into eligible life extension and output boosting projects to advance Bruce Power’s climate change goals.

Bruce Power says nuclear technology plays a critical role in fighting climate change and enabling a Net Zero future by producing emissions-free power.

Minister of Energy Todd Smith praised Bruce Power for its delivery of its Major Component Replacement Program, which he said will increase the amount of clean power  produced, helping the province power the growing economy.

“Clean nuclear energy from the Bruce Power site plays a major role in making Ontario’s electricity system one of the cleanest in the world,” said Hon. Todd Smith, Minister of Energy. “I commend Bruce Power for the delivery of its Major Component Replacement Program, which is increasing the amount of clean power it produces, helping theprovince power our growing economy.”

“It has become more clear that there is no path to Net Zero without large-scale nuclear, here and around the world,” said Mike Rencheck, Bruce Power’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Ontario has established itself as a world leader in the production of clean energy and clean energy projects such as our Major Component Replacement, which is part of our Life-Extension Program that will see Bruce Power continue to provide clean energy and medical isotopes to people, businesses and hospitals for decades to come, while also stimulating the economy.”

“Bruce Power’s Green Bonds allow investors to participate in climate-friendly critical power infrastructure investment to extend the life of the Bruce Power site,” said Kevin Kelly, Bruce Power’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Finance and Business Development. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to see Bruce Power provide low-cost, emissions-free power to the Ontario supply mix through 2064 and beyond.”