"conjunction or opposition of a heavenly body with the sun," 1650s, from L.L. syzygia, from Gk. syzygia "yoke, pair, union of two, conjunction," from syzygein "to yoke together," from syn- "together" + zygon "yoke" - Online Etymology Dictionary
Syzygy is one of my most favorite words. Astronomy and Space Exploration have many interesting connections. Recent news stories about those syzygies which caught my eye are just over the Event Horizon squiggle.
An event horizon is the boundary from which nothing, not even light, can escape.
Come see this syzygy. Step over the squiggle. ⤵
Turn Up Your Volume
First, Search For Supernovae
From April, 2003 until August, 2006, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) watched four parts of the sky as often as possible. Armed with the largest digital camera in the known universe, CFHT monitored these four fields for a special type of Supernova (called Type Ia) which are created by the thermonuclear detonation of one or more white-dwarf stars.
These four fields covered roughly 16 times the area of the full Moon on the sky, or roughly 1/10,000 of the entire sky. Even though such a small fraction of the sky was monitored, 241 Type Ia Supernovae were seen during the period of observation.
The positions of all the Supernova are illustrated as time progresses. The animation is rendered at 15 frames per second, and each frame corresponds to just under a single day (1 sec of animation = 2 weeks of real time).
Assign Each Supernova a Note to Play
Distance determines the volume of the note. Closer is louder. Each Supernova follows a similar pattern of brightening and then fading. But they each have some variations.
The pitch of the note was determined by the Supernova's "stretch," a property of how the Supernova brightens and fades. Higher stretch values played higher notes. The pitches were drawn from a Phrygian dominant scale.
Assign the Instruments to be Played
Two instruments were used. Notes of Supernovae in more massive galaxies were played by upright bass. Those in less massive galaxies were played by piano.
Creators of this Work
Alex H. Parker (University of Victoria) and Melissa L. Graham (University of California Santa Barbara / LCOGT).
Can Supernovae Cause a Black Hole?
Yes, they can. If a Supernova is more than several Solar masses, it can produce a Black Hole. You would not see the Black Hole. But, its influence on the surroundings could be detected. Matter can be seen in a whirling accretion disc rushing around at tremendous speeds as it falls inward. There are often jets of high energy particles that are visible along the axis of spin. Light can be bent as it passes through the intense gravitational field from a distant galaxy to our telescopes. This gravitational lensing effect can distort images or cause multiple images of the distant galaxy.
Our own Milky Way galaxy apparently has a supermassive Black Hole at its core. It is about 4 million times the mass of our Sun. Detailed motion studies of the innermost stars reveal they are in orbit about an unseen object.
Click the Graphic to Watch Them Move
The animation reveals their paths from 1995 to 2010. The mass of the Black Hole is calculated from Kepler's Laws. The arrow at the left side of the animation sets the distance scale at 0.1" (seconds of arc). One circle = 360 degrees of arc. One degree = 60 minutes of arc. One minute = 60 seconds of arc. Hold your thumb at arms length and cover the Moon or Sun. That is 1/2 degree, or 30 minutes of arc. The Moon subtends 30x60 or 1800 seconds of arc. This animation region of space is exceedingly small at about 1x1 seconds of arc.
I hope you enjoyed that syzygy..... jim