NICER Charts the Area Around a New Black Hole

The video discusses research conducted at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland, focusing on the use of X-rays to study the environment around a newly discovered black hole. Using NICER on the International Space Station, the team observed X-ray flares from the black hole Maxi J 1820. The research revealed insights into the accretion disc and corona, including the contraction of the corona. These findings suggest that stellar mass black holes behave similarly to supermassive black holes, offering a faster timescale for observation and understanding of black hole systems.

What was the primary tool used by the team to observe the black hole environment?

• Chandra X-ray Observatory

• NICER on the International Space Station

• Hubble Space Telescope

• James Webb Space Telescope

What is the approximate mass of the black hole Maxi J 1820+070 compared to the Sun?

• 10 times the Sun's mass

• 20 times the Sun's mass

• 50 times the Sun's mass

• 5 times the Sun's mass

What causes the X-ray flares observed by NICER around the black hole?

• A supernova explosion

• A collision with another black hole

• Solar wind interactions

• An instability in the accretion disc

What phenomenon allows scientists to study the size and shape of the accretion disc and corona?

• Gravitational lensing

• X-ray echoes

• Radio wave emissions

• Infrared spectroscopy

How did the corona of the black hole change during the observations?

• It contracted from 100 miles to 10 miles

• It remained the same size

• It disappeared completely

• It expanded from 10 miles to 100 miles