Black hole visible in backyard telescope!

[Ccolvin968]

http://www.iflscience.com/scientists-spot-visible-light-coming-black-hole-first-time

Link to prove that I'm not full of it.

Of course it's not the singularity itself producing the light, but the X-rays from the inner layer heat the outer layer of the material being swallowed creating flashes of visible light from seconds! Get your scopes on it now! The article says that the flashes of light should be visible with an 8" or bigger scope. The star in the black hole binary is V404 Cygni. Happy hunting and clear skies!

[calli]

Interesting. I would have a look but my telescope has not enogh apperture.

What I did not get from the articles: Is it still fluctuating?

Carsten

[Ccolvin968]

I'm wondering the same exact thing. I don't know to be honest. Still worth a look in my opinion.

[acey]

Interesting article. Says it was active for two weeks in June 2015. V404 Cygni is a close binary of a normal star and a black hole, so it would not have been possible to see flashes from the black hole visually. Instead you would have seen a brightening of the star, which reached magnitude 14. It was the first outburst since 1989, so it may be a while until the next.

https://www.aavso.org/aavso-alert-notice-520

[JeremyS]

V404 Cyg is currently undergoing a new outburst. Last night it was mag 15.3.

Jeremy

[Ccolvin968]

Dang... Just beyond the limiting mag of my scope at 14.7...

[Dave In Vermont]

I saw this from Business Insider in Yahoo News. So it MUST be true!

Dave

[orion25]

I love the title of this thread. It's a real attention-getter

Pull out your scopes while you can!

Reggie

[JeremyS]

Dang... Just beyond the limiting mag of my scope at 14.7...

Not necessarily - I see it was brighter last night. Moreover these are CCD measurements with an I filter (https://www.aavso.org/apps/webobs/results/?star=V404+CYG&num_results=200), so it might be brighter visually. It's always worth checking. You never know when you might get another chance (or it might re-brighten again and you could be the first to spot that!)

Go well!

Jeremy