Science: Media dumbs down black hole physics

Re: "Black hole eats, burps," (TNT, 11-29).

The article by Rachel Feltman from the Washington Post follows in the tradition of the media dumbing down and sensationalizing science for a lay audience. A black hole is not a living being and cannot "murder" a star any more than an earthquake "murders" a bridge during a quake.

The black hole is a physical phenomenon with massive gravitational force at the center of a galaxy. Stars in a galaxy are in constant motion and influenced by the gravitational pull of other stars they pass close to. A star's course can be deflected to bring it within the gravitational pull of a black hole. That's not murder; it's just physics.

The important piece of news was that scientists, by using multiple types of telescopes, were able to watch the disruption of the star as most of its mass fell into the black hole, while some of it was directed into an outward flowing jet. Seeing such a jet from a particular star is rare and may help scientists formulate more accurate theories about stellar encounters with black holes. No crime was committed.

This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Science: Media dumbs down black hole physics."