Einstein's black hole prediction confirmed by NASA observations
Albert Einstein predicted the behavior of matter as it approached a black hole as early as 1915. Scientists have now observed a phenomenon that confirms the assumptions of the famous physicist over a century ago.
Einstein was right about black holes. According to Interesting Engineering, scientists have observed a specific area around black holes known as the dive zone. Einstein predicted this zone in his general theory of relativity.
Observations indicate that matter ceases to orbit the black hole in the dive zone and instead falls straight into it at the speed of light. Studying dive zones may provide new insights into the fundamental nature of spacetime.
Einstein predicted it
The behavior of matter predicted by Einstein in 1915 when approaching a black hole has been, until now, just a forecast that could not be confirmed. However, NASA's NuSTAR and NICER telescopes have enabled observations that prove the existence of dive zones.
A team of scientists led by the Department of Physics at Oxford made the discovery. They found that the dive zone exerts some of the most vital gravitational forces observed in the galaxy. The study focused on smaller black holes relatively close to Earth, using X-ray data from NuSTAR and NICER telescopes.
River and waterfall
"This is the first look at how plasma, peeled from the outer edge of a star, undergoes its final fall into the [center] of a black hole, a process happening in a system around 10,000 light years away," says Dr. Andrew Mummery from Oxford University, who led the research.
"What is really exciting is that there are many black holes in the galaxy, and we now have a powerful new technique for using them to study the strongest known gravitational fields," he adds.
Mummery emphasized the significance of the research findings, comparing them to a river and a waterfall. "We have been looking at the river. This is our first sight of the waterfall," he concluded.
