A Death Star is born.
As if regular old star-gobbling black holes weren’t terrifying enough, scientists discovered that certain types swivel around and shoot beams at various objects in the cosmos, earning them comparisons to the planet-killing Death Star space base from “Star Wars.”
Scientists detailed these intergalactic ray guns in an article in the “Astrophysical Journal” — and actually compared the discovery to the George Lucas franchise.
“These Death Star black holes are swiveling around and pointing at new targets, like the fictional space station in Star Wars,” said study leader Francesco Ubertosi of the University of Bologna in a press release.
The scientist and his team had examined 16 erupting supermassive black holes with NASA’s orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) — a system of ten radio telescopes located in New Mexico.
Using these cutting-edge instruments, scientists were able to determine that the black holes’ jets are capable of swiveling as much as 90 degrees.
“We found that about a third of the beams are now pointing in completely different directions than before,” declared Ubertosi of the phenomenon, whose cause is yet unclear.
And while the rate of rotation seems quite slow by our standards — reorientating can take millions of years — this is the blink of an eye when you consider that these cosmic vortexes are 10 billion years old.
“Changing the direction of the giant black hole beams in about a million years is analogous to changing the direction of a new battleship in a few minutes,” said team member Gerrit Schellenberger of the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA).
On the other hand, the jets — which are comprised of plasma particles supercharged by the black hole’s magnetic field — travel at around light speed, reaching distances many light-years from their source.
Couple this with their swiveling capabilities, and these black holes likely sweep the galaxy, firing plasma beams at various objects like intergalactic laser turrets.
That being said, Earth probably won’t experience Alderaan’s fate anytime soon; It’s yet unclear if existing stars and planets are impacted by the beam.
However, scientists suspect that these heavenly Howitzers could be killing systems before they’re born, bringing new meaning to the term “shooting star.”
“These galaxies are too distant to tell if the beams from the Death Star black holes are damaging stars and their planets, but we are confident they are preventing many stars and planets from forming in the first place,” team member and CfA researcher Ewan O’Sullivan said regarding this cosmic cauterization.
