Black hole sun can host complex life

• Autores: Jacob Aron
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3057, 2016, pág. 12
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Planets orbiting a black hole--as they do in the film Interstellar--could sustain life, thanks to a bizarre reversal of the thermodynamics experienced by the sun and Earth. According to the second law of thermodynamics, life requires a temperature difference to provide a source of usable energy. Most black holes are among the brightest objects in the universe, because gas and other matter falling in is superheated and glows as it accretes. But a satiated black hole effectively has zero temperature, barring a trickle of particles released by a process called Hawking radiation. That means it could potentially act as a cold sun, says Tomas Opatrny of Palacky University in Olomouc Czech Republic.