A huge explosion of a supermassive black hole has been detected near Earth

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Astronomers from ICRAR (International Center for Research in Radio Astronomy) have captured the most complete picture from the radio broadcast of the eruption of matter from Black hole Ultra-massive, close to Earth, and its apparent range (seen from Earth) is equivalent to sixteen moons placed side by side.

In many worlds of science fiction, black holes Inspires. They are the source of mystery and imagination. One wonders in particular what is “beyond”… In our reality, researchers from ICRAR have captured a complete radio broadcast of a supermassive black volcano eruption and share their work. in review natural astronomy December 23, 2021.

The broadcast is fed by a central black hole in galaxy Centauri A, separated from Earth by about 12 million light years. It is the closest radioactive galaxy to the Milky Way. Viewed from Earth, the eruption covers the equivalent of sixteen moons set side by side (stretching eight degrees across the sky).

A disk formed around the black hole

According to Dr. Benjamin McKinley, the captured image reveals stunning new details from the Centaurus A radio broadcast. « These radio waves come from material being sucked into the supermassive black hole in the center of the galaxy. ”, he explains in communication.

« It forms a disk around the black hole, and as matter ruptures as it gets close to it, powerful jets form on either side of the disk, ejecting most of the matter in space out of the way. Distances are probably greater than a million light-years away. ».

The black hole feeds on falling gas and ejects matter at speeds approaching the speed of light, causing “radio bubbles” to grow over hundreds of millions of years. One of these “bubbles” was captured by the Murchison Widefield Array Telescope (MWA), located in the outback of Western Australia.

Centaurus A galaxy located 12.4 millionlight years in Earth. © ICRAR / Curtin

According to the researchers, “previous radio observations could not cope with the extreme brightness of the jets, and the details of the larger region around the galaxy were changed. But our new image goes beyond these limits.” Details that should allow scientists “to learn a lot about Centaurus A”.

To take the best possible picture, the scientists combined their radio observations with optical and X-ray data.” It helps us better understand the physics of these supermassive black holes McKinley says.

MWA can collect ‘unusual amount of data’

For MWA Director Professor Stephen Tingay, this observation was made possible by the telescope’s very large field of view. MWA is also a precursor to another, more complex, radio telescope, SKA (Square Kilometer Array), which must be built in Western Australia and South Africa.

« The large field of view, and therefore the large amount of data we can collect, means that the detectability of each MWA vision is very high. This is a great step towards a larger SKA. ».

“Board” 107 is one of 256 boards from MWA. © Pete Wheeler, ICRAR

The study led by McKinley also supports a new theory, the chaotic cold accumulation theory. According to astrophysicist Massimo Gaspari of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics, “ In this model, cold clouds condense in the galactic halo and rain over the central regions, fueling the supermassive black hole. ».

The galaxy appears brighter in the center, where it is most active and where the energy is most abundant. When you move away, the light fades, because energy is lost and” things calm down McKinley explained. « But there are some interesting features where the charged particles are accelerated and interact with strong magnetic fields. “The world concludes.

source : natural astronomy

Stan Shaw

<p class="sign">"Professional food nerd. Internet scholar. Typical bacon buff. Passionate creator."</p>

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