The news article “Record-Breaking Star Found Orbiting Supermassive Black Hole at Milky Way’s Center“ describes a recent discovery of a star that orbits around the supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy with a shortest known period of only 11.5 years. This discovery was made by the astronomers from University of California Los Angeles and the results were recently published in the Science magazine. The authors of the research claim that the newly discovered star, which received the name S0-102, will greatly facilitate the practical research on the Einstein’s general relativity theory. According to the findings of this great physical theorist such heavy objects as supermassive black holes should significantly distort time and space in their vicinity. To verify this prediction astronomers study over 3000 stars that orbit around the nearest supermassive black hole to Earth – the one that is located in the center of our galaxy. Unfortunately, the orbit period of many of them is longer than human life. The newly discovered star together with already known S0-2 (which has 16 years period) will greatly amplify the research on the subject. The authors claim that one of the main factors which facilitated finding S0-102 is the technological advance in the adaptive optics at the Keck Observatory (UCLA) which increased the angular resolution of the image.
The news article provides quite interesting information on the recent astronomical research on the general relativity theory. However, it is still unclear which place does this study takes in relation to other studies on the subject. The main principles of the relativity theory were already verified in numerous experiments. Moreover, it is mentioned in the article that the relativity principles are employed in GPS and other space-related systems. Therefore, it is unclear whether the study of the stars orbiting around supermassive black hole would bring much novelty to the subject.
All in all, the information provided in the news is of high quality. The article provides a good insight into the nature of the discovery and mentions basic theoretical principles studied. Moreover, the style of the discussion makes it simple to read and easy to understand even for readers who have little knowledge in astronomy and relativity. The only issue on the unclear novelty can be resolved by the interested reader with the help of additional search on the subject.
Works Cited
Prostak, Sergio. “Record-Breaking Star Found Orbiting Supermassive Black Hole at Milky Way’s Center”. Sci-News.com., 5 Oct. 2012, Web., 8 Oct. …