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Q:
I was interested if Chandra is poised to look at the event
horizon of black holes to determine if anything can be
'accelerated around them' my concern is not for supernovas to
affect the Earth, I am more concerned about naturally occurring
'bullets' of electromagnetic pulse wandering around the solar
system knocking planets magnetic axes around and frying
semiconductor materials. Can Chandra see such magnetic storms if
they exist?
A:
Chandra would see such electromagnetic pulses (if they exist),
only if they produce X-rays. Chandra does see jets of extremely
high-energy particles emanating from giant black holes in the
centers of galaxies. These jets also have magnetic fields
associated with them. Black holes produced by the collapse of
massive stars might also produce such jets. Fortunately, we are
a long way (30,000 light years) from the center of our galaxy (a
weak jet producer), and far enough away (a few thousand light
years) from stellar black holes for this to be a concern.
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