Gravity can do more than floor you. According to recent measurements [ ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.g…] of a star system thought to contain a black hole [ http://wonka.physic…], it can spin you too. This effect, called frame-dragging [ http://www.enews.co…], is most prominent near massive, fast spinning objects. Now, a team led by W. Cui [ mailto:cui@space.mit .edu ] (MIT [ http://web.mit.edu/…]) has used the orbiting Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer [ http://heasarc.gsfc…] to search for it near a system thought to contain a black hole [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Cui's team claim that matter in this system gets caught up and spun around the black hole [ http://physics7.ber…] at just the rate expected [ http://adsabs.harva…] from frame-dragging. Such discoveries help scientists better understand gravity [ http://www.ncsa.uiu…] itself.
Explanation
Gravity can do more than floor you. According to recent measurements [ ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.g…] of a star system thought to contain a black hole [ http://wonka.physic…], it can spin you too. This effect, called frame-dragging [ http://www.enews.co…], is most prominent near massive, fast spinning objects. Now, a team led by W. Cui [ mailto:cui@space.mit .edu ] (MIT [ http://web.mit.edu/…]) has used the orbiting Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer [ http://heasarc.gsfc…] to search for it near a system thought to contain a black hole [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…]. Cui's team claim that matter in this system gets caught up and spun around the black hole [ http://physics7.ber…] at just the rate expected [ http://adsabs.harva…] from frame-dragging. Such discoveries help scientists better understand gravity [ http://www.ncsa.uiu…] itself.
Explanation
Credit and Copyright:
J. Bergeron [ mailto: joe at joebergeron.com ], Sky & Telescope Magazine
Credit_and_Copyright
J. Bergeron [ mailto: joe at joebergeron.com ], Sky & Telescope Magazine
