Galactic core still calm.

Swift X-ray Observations of the Galactic Center as of February 6th, 2015

Swift X-ray Observations of the Galactic Center as of February 6th, 2015

Swift is finally back online after a lapse of almost 3 months.  For what reason?  They do not say.  Things still look quiescent at the Galactic center as of February 6th.   The G2 cloud has long passed its pericenter andthere have been no signs of enhanced activity other than the brief spike around September 10th.  As I had predicted last year, no activity should be expected from the Galactic core due to the expected infall of gas and dust stripped off from the G2 cloud because the cosmic ray wind from the Galactic core is so strong that such gas and dust would be blown away from the core.  The only activity expected would be from bodies such as comets or planets tidally stripped off and slowing down sufficiently to fall into the core.  So far such infall events have not been observed.  This X-ray chart will be updated on an approximately monthly basis, unless there is an activity alert.

At this point the general consensus of astronomers is that the G2 cloud contains one star.  As stated before, the unanswered question is whether if the G2 cloud contains a star with a planetary system and if the Galactic core is able to tug comets or planets away from the parent star, whether hydrodrag effects of the core’s ion and cosmic ray wind will be sufficient to cause such bodies to spiral into the core and trigger energetic activity.  This possibility has been explored in the May 19th posting.  Currently, there is little chance that the G2 cloud system will trigger a superwave outburst.

Keep in mind that we should always be prepared for the occurrence of any unexpected space weather event.

151 Responses to Galactic core still calm.

  1. Petra says:

    That’s the answer:X-ray Flare from Galactic Center Detected by Swift http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=6456

    Kind regards
    Petra

  2. observer says:

    X-ray output has just shot up from 0.2 to 0.8…

    http://www.swift-sgra.com

  3. Roman Mercl says:

    it’s probably begins http://swift-sgra.com/

  4. Petra says:

    I do not know if it now has to mean something, but the light curve (http://swift-sgra.com/) has since yesterday evening to observe a greater increase.

    Kind regards
    Petra from Germany

  5. David says:

    Dr. LaViolette,
    I was checking out the space weather this morning and one of the places I check is:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWXYLH44T7U&list=UUTiL1q9YbrVam5nP2xzFTWQ

    This site showed the series of large Solar flares and CME bursts on the Back side of the Sun this morning and it also showed our satellite jumping and getting some fuzz.
    After thinking about it all day I thought something else must have come through to make that satellite jump, and the only thing I could think of was maybe a gravity wave came through. Of course several things anywhere could send us a gravity wave, but the most likely candidate might just be the G-2 Cloud.

    I thought I should mention this event because one might want to see what happens over the next few days and see if anything else comes our way.

    I have never seen our satellite jump before, and the solar events were on the backside, so did something hit our sun and the satellite?

  6. David says:

    Good Morning Dr. LaViolette. I was reading about Magnetars this morning since apparently they are capable of sending us X-Class flares on a regular basis (and have sent them) that are as powerful as anything the Sun sends us, except the appear to arrive on a fairly regular basis. Even from 45,000 light years away, they are a force to be reckoned with. Apparently they have found 21 of them (now they are looking for them) in our Milky Way, since they have determined they are an important influence on our Heliosphere and everything in it. I guess they could be sending us what you could call a mini or sub-compact model of your Super Wave. In fact it seems the Magnetar SGR 1900+14 Has sent us 5 of the micro Super Waves since 1998, and there has been an estimated 10 arrive in total at the time of the linked article.

    Solar Flares on Steroids
    Solar flares that scorch Earth’s atmosphere are commonplace. But scientists have discovered a few each year that are not like the others: they come from stars thousands of light years away.
    http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/12sep_magnetars/

    Apparently a Gentleman thinks he has figured out how Magnetars are formed out a Binary Star system. Ben Richie, co-author of the May 2014 paper . Suggests that instead of the ever popular Black Hole being formed, in certain instances Magnetar’s are formed during a Super Nova event of one of the Binary stars. All of which is supposed to explain away the existence of Magnetar’s at all, instead just Black holes.

    http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1415/

    The fore going reminded me of the possibility of the G-2 Cloud being a Binary Star system and other possibilities coming out of this close encounter of the G-2 with our Galactic Core.

    Thanks for your attention to my meanderings, and I would greatly appreciate hearing your ideas about these happenings
    .
    David

  7. justin HC says:

    GCIRS 7, a pulsating M1 supergiant at the Galactic centre

    Physical properties and age⋆,⋆⋆

    T. Paumard1, O. Pfuhl2, F. Martins3, P. Kervella1, T. Ott2, J.-U. Pott4, J. B. Le Bouquin5, J. Breitfelder1, 6, S. Gillessen2, G. Perrin1, L. Burtscher2, X. Haubois1 and W. Brandner4
    1 LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC, Université Paris-Diderot, PSL research university, 5 place Jules Janssen, 92195 Meudon, France
    e-mail: thibaut.paumard@obspm.fr
    2 Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, 85748 Garching, Germany
    e-mail: pfuhl@mpe.mpg.de
    3 LUPM, Université Montpelier 2, CNRS, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier, France
    4 Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
    5 Univ. Grenoble Alpes, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France CNRS, IPAG, 38000 Grenoble, France
    6 European Southern Observatory, Alonso de Córdova 3107, Casilla 19001, Santiago 19, Chile
    Received: 14 April 2014
    Accepted: 19 June 2014
    Abstract
    Context. The stellar population in the central parsec of the Galaxy is dominated in mass and number by an old (several Gyr) population, but young (6 ± 2 Myr), massive stars dominate the luminosity function. The most luminous of these stars is an M1 supergiant, GCIRS 7.
    Aims. We have studied GCIRS 7 in order to constrain the age of the recent star formation event in the Galactic centre and to characterise it as a visibility and phase reference for observations of the Galactic centre with the interferometric instrument GRAVITY, which will equip the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in the near future.
    Methods. We present the first H-band interferometric observations of GCIRS 7, obtained using the PIONIER visitor instrument on the VLTI using the four 8.2-m unit telescopes. In addition, we present unpublished K-band VLTI/AMBER data and build JHKL light curves based on archival data spanning almost 40 years, and measured the star’s effective temperature using SINFONI integral field spectroscopy.
    Results. GCIRS 7 is marginally resolved in the H band with a uniform-disk diameter θUD(2013) = 1.076 ± 0.093 mas (RUD(2013) = 960 ± 92 R⊙ at 8.33 ± 0.35 kpc). We detect a significant circumstellar contribution in the K band. The star and its environment are variable in brightness and in size. The photospheric H-band variations are modelled well with two periods: P0 ≃ 470 ± 10 days (amplitude ≃0.64 mag) and long secondary period PLSP ≃ 2700 − 2850 days (amplitude ≃1.1 mag). As measured from 12CO equivalent width, ⟨Teff⟩ = 3600 ± 195 K.
    Conclusions. The size, periods, luminosity (⟨Mbol⟩ = −8.44 ± 0.22), and effective temperature are consistent with an M1 supergiant with an initial mass of 22.5 ± 2.5 M⊙ and an age of 6.5–10 Myr (depending on rotation). This age is in remarkable agreement with most estimates for the recent star formation event in the central parsec. Caution should be taken when using this star as a phase reference or visibility calibrator because it is variable in size, is surrounded by a variable circumstellar environment, and large convection cells may form on its photosphere.

  8. Jim Charles says:

    Is it unusual for data to not be posted for a week or 2?!?

    Is it possible the data is not posted because it reveals something they have been instructed to conceal?

  9. Brigitte says:

    I once heard that the real purpose, why the pyramids
    in Egypt were built thousands of years ago was that
    they should be something like a generating plant
    which has to be activated shortly bevore the cosmic
    radiation will affect earth. Those who built the pyramids
    knew about this event which is a cyclical thing..
    What do you think about this theory?
    Brigitte from Germany

    • Paul LaViolette says:

      I have no knowledge of any such intention. If there is high tech apparatus of that sort hidden in or below the pyramid, then it is a tightly kept secret. Based on what is publicly known about the pyramids, I believe that the Sphinx and Great Pyramid were constructed as a marker to commemorate the long series of catastrophes that humanity passed through at the ending of the ice age. I have posted on this subject before.

  10. Skylark says:

    Dr LaViolette, I’m not sure I understand the telegram, I must be missing something. They say they have established the compactness of the source, confirmed lack of significant activity, and from that conluded periastron not yet reached. How does that follow? Is their conclusion sound?

  11. Charlie Knoll says:

    This study concludes that G2 has not reached periapse:

    http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=6285

    • Paul LaViolette says:

      This is very interesting. I will make a separate post about it. It seems something may still happen in the coming months. We should upgrade our alert level. Here is the posting about it: http://etheric.com/new-observations-indicate-g2-cloud-yet-reached-orbital-pericenter/

      • Light speed is the limit, but according to Hawking, when a mass turned to energy on a galactic scale such as this event happens, in order to preserve the speed limit, time will adjust to allow the expansion of the energy and not break the laws of physics. We can observe super luminal speeds in other parts of the universe since we are not involved in that event. Due to our proximity, we are inside the sphere of influence so time is going to have an effect on us.
        Hawking has also said he believes time travel into the past would be impossible due to a sort of feedback loop that would be caused by quantum particles rushing into the opening of the (for lack of a better phrase) hole in time repeatedly.
        What are your thoughts on a change in the directional flow of time? Could we be seeing a reversal of time at GC? Is it an illusion or a reflection off of a ripple in the space time continuum? Is this a proof of some type, suggesting that a body of some type has been consumed causing an event?
        I believe that an event such as this would send shocks through time, both forward and backward. I also believe that we may find the human mind does transcend the concept of time and that time distortions have no effect on our ability to observe the world around us. The biggest negative effect on our minds from this type of realization would be the inability of some individual minds to accept the fact that time is a manufactured constraint.

        • Paul LaViolette says:

          Ruffle the Teacher: Apparently you have not read any of my papers or any of my books like Genesis of the Cosmos or Subquantum Kinetics. If you had you would know that my position on time travel to the past is that it is totally science fiction. I agree with Hawking’s view, but for different reason. The universe is driven by a etheric flux that relentless proceeds unidirectionally. Hence time has a vector always forward, never backward. Please read my books and papers on subquantum kinetics and don’t take up my time again with such questions.

          • Pachakamakin says:

            ….Unidirectionally, or omnidirectionally? Sorry I am interested.

          • Paul LaViolette says:

            Evidence suggests that the cosmic ray wind is omnidirectional, not confined to a beam as most of the astronomical community maintains. Indeed the wind may be a few fold stronger in the axial direction. But this is no reason to ignore the rest of it which is blowing outward quite forcefully in all directions.

  12. Kurt Sarrica says:

    The calm before the storm?
    I just heard this interesting report from NASA which lends support to your theory that the galactic superwave will
    force cosmic dust from interstellar space into the Solar System. Interstellar space is FORTY TIMES DENSER than
    space within the Solar System:
    http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/voyager/sun-sends-tsunami-waves-20140707/
    Thanks for the update!
    –Kurt

    • Paul LaViolette says:

      Actually that report does not refer to the dust density in interstellar space. It says that the plasma density is 40 times higher. This plasma consists mainly of hydrogen and helium ions. This higher density is expected because outside the heliopause there is a shock region where such plasma piles up due to encountering the helopause barrier.

  13. kealia says:

    Dr. LaViolette, a recent study postulates that black holes can sustain a magnetic field as strong as its own gravitational field, and that a gas cloud trapped in the magnetic field of the black hole could levitate in position. If that were the case wouldn’t there be a whole bunch of debris floating around a black hole? I keep hearing the disembodied voice of Morgan Freeman in my head reciting that nothing escapes the gravitational pull of a black hole? Would a binary star within the gas cloud levitate as well? So now we are to believe that a black hole is a picky eater?

    http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1113163466/supermassive-black-hole-counteracted-by-magnetic-fields-060514/

    • Paul LaViolette says:

      The group putting out PR about their finding of strong magnetic fields in the vicinity of a galactic core appears to focus on this and blow it out of proportion. There is more going on in the core vicinity than just a strong gravitational field and a strong magnetic field. There is also the very strong cosmic ray and ion wind that blows out from the core. This news report makes no mention of this. In the case of the Galactic core, astronomers have determined that at the distance of the G2 cloud orbit this wind is so strong that it blows the G2 cloud gas outward with no possibility of core infall. The claim that a gas cloud would levitate through the action of gravity and magnetism is an ivory tower case that does not correspond to reality. The other problem with this claim is that, even in this ideal case of no core wind, if the gas from the cloud contained ferro magnetic and paramagnetic material the core’s magnetic force acting on this material would act in the same direction on this material as its gravity force (inward), hence there would be no levitation occurring. Bottom line is this balancing act claim does not hold much water.

  14. mitchell hawkins says:

    Dr. LaViolette, if what i heard on my local news station this evening is correct. Then there have been two stelar events in our galaxy with in ten days of one another. The latest was 20,000 ltyrs away from earth. I would like to know how far from the galactic core these latest events were? The one before todays was rather close in galactic standards. Also, if you could look up data on what the gravity telescopes have picked up over the past month, that would awesome. Hopefully, they weren’t down for repairs again. Also Etna exploded again. 🙂

    Thanks Sir, your works are a marvel.

  15. Patricia Lagrange Martínez says:

    Hello, Dr. Paul LaViolette. Thank you for the news. Best wishes.

  16. Patricia Lagrange Martínez says:

    Dr. LaViolette:
    Thank you very much for your updates. Thank you also for the exiting learning roller ride. Cheers and God bless you. Thank you everybody for your comments.

  17. Charlie Knoll says:

    New observations indicate that the gas cloud does indeed contain a star: “We conclude that G2, which is currently experiencing its closest approach, is still intact, in contrast to predictions for a simple gas cloud hypothesis and therefore most likely hosts a central star. Keck LGSAO observations of G2 will continue in the coming months to monitor how this unusual object evolves as it emerges from periapse passage.” http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=6110

  18. Kathryn says:

    Better to be wise than blind-sided by an event involving our Galactic Core. I will hope for the best, until further notice form you, regarding a 2nd cloud or sudden change in the G2 cloud that might lead to a potential galactic wave event! Thank you for your persistence in this research.

  19. Patricia Lagrange Martínez says:
  20. Patricia Lagrange Martínez says:

    Ok, Dr. LaViolette. thank you very much for your new estimations. I will continue aware of your updates. Cheers.

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