Hubble finds missing link between black holes and supernovae/ESA TV Exchanges/15-11-2002

The next transmission of the ESA TV Service will be:

15-Nov-02 13:00 – 13:15 GMT

Hubble finds missing link between black holes and supernovae
ESA TV Exchanges

Background information on the transmission:

Please note the change in transmission time for the first playout. The story is embargoed Monday, 18 November 2002 at 14:00 GMT

Replay I: 15 November 19:45 – 20:00 GMT

Replay II: 16 November 08:15 – 08:30 GMT

European scientists have found the missing link between supernovae and the
mysterious black holes. The new discovery shows a black hole hurtling like a cannonball across the plane of the Milky Way.

By combining Hubble data with data from ground-based telescopes, scientists could calculate the enormous velocity of the black hole, the most likely reason for which is the explosive kick of a supernova. The black hole and its companion star probably received a so-called ‘natal kick’ by the supernova explosion that sent them flying out through the Milky Way.

As the black hole shoots through space, it is slowly devouring its companion star, which survived the supernova that created it. Blowtorch-like jets stream away from the black-hole system at 90% of the speed of light. This black hole has been nicknamed a ‘microquasar’ because of its similarity to the monster black holes, called quasars, found in the centres of galaxies.

Today’s transmission includes computer animations of the Hubble space telescope images of this discovery, and of the telescope itself.

The programme comprises of a 5-minute A-roll with split track and commentary and is complemented by a B-Roll with clean international sound. The script will be available on-line as a PDF document under http://television.esa.int/photos/EbS27068.pdf

A pre-view of the A-roll is on line as of 15 November as a Windows Media Player download under
http://esa.capcave.com/wmp/hublfin_13112002_wmplow.wmv

This ESA TV Exchanges feed is transmitted by the European Commission’s “Europe by Satellite” (EbS) service. You can find the complete transmission schedule and download scripts and shot lists, also for ESA TV items, from the EbS Web site at http://europa.eu.int/comm/ebs/index.

More background information can be found on http://sci.esa.int/hubble.

Transmission details:EUTELSAT HOT BIRD at 13° East (DVB/MPEG-2)

Horizontal, F=12,476 MHz (MCPC, Europe by Satellite)

SR=27,500 MS/sec, FEC=3/4