[Astronomy][International Participation] Taiwan Researchers Contribute to the First Capture of Blackhole's Swallowing a Star, Findings of Which Are Lately Published in 《Nature》

[Astronomy][International Participation] Taiwan Researchers Contribute to the First Capture of Blackhole's Swallowing a Star, Findings of Which Are Lately Published in 《Nature》 (Chinese Version)

CNA (2011/09/01) & udn.com (2011/09/02) NASA released the findings of the first-ever capture of the process of a star's being swallowed by blackhole this March lately, and Taiwan scientists made contributions to it as well. A letter introducing the observation was published in Nature (vol. 476, pp. 421–424, 25 August 2011).

NASA's satellite “Swift” observed a star swallowed by blackhole this March, which was named after the satellite and its coordinate position – Swift J164449.3+573451 (Swift J1644+57). A team led by Professor David BURROWS, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, studied Swift J1644+57's jet activity and the findings were published in Nature.

The two scientists from Taiwan in this team are a married couple Associate Professor Yuji URATA, Institute of Astronomy, National Central University, and Academia Sinica's Postdoctoral Fellow Li-Jin HUANG. They take parts in “East Asia GRB Follow-up Network (EAFON)” which combines the research resources in Taiwan, China, Japan, etc. to observe the gamma ray bursts together. Via the network, they contribute detailed data of Swift J1644+57's ground visible light and infrared light to BURROWS's team and get listed in the authors of the Nature letter.

Li-jin HUANG says, this is the first-ever observation in human's history, and it is quite lucky. URATA thinks, this capture will shed more light on the process of the growth of blackhole.


Related website:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v476/n7361/full/nature10374.html


Further Information:
CNA 2011/09/01 (Chinese)
Udn.com 2011/09/02 (Chinese)

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