Study pinpoints 'indigestion' in supermassive black hole
Every so often, a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy 25 million light years away lets out a belch of ‘galactic proportions,’ spewing matter into the surrounding space.
Scientists have suspected the phenomenon occurs as the result of ‘force-feeding,’ as a small galaxy falls within the outer reaches of a larger galaxy nearby, forcing material onto the black hole until it can no longer ‘digest’ properly.
New high-resolution images have now revealed a detailed look at how these blasts occur and spread, as the accretion process breaks down to send a shock wave of matter into the interstellar medium.
According to the researchers, the supermassive black hole’s ‘indigestion’ is caused by the interactions of the galaxy NGC 5195 and the NGC 5194 (also known as the Whirlpool galaxy). NGC 5195 is known to fall into the outer arms of the Whirlpool every few hundred million years
In the new multi-wavelength study led by astronomers at the University of Manchester’s Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, researchers analyzed images captured by the e-MERLIN radio array, along with archive images from the Very Large Array (VLA), Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Hubble Space Telescope.
According to the researchers, the supermassive black hole’s ‘indigestion’ is caused by the interactions of the galaxy NGC 5195 and the NGC 5194 (also known as the Whirlpool galaxy).
NGC 5195 is known to fall into the outer arms of the Whirlpool galaxy every few hundred million years.
When this happens, its supermassive black hole â€" which has a mass equal to 19 million suns â€" forms an accretion disc that continues to grow until it reaches its limit.
Once the supermassive black hole can no longer ‘digest’ the infalling material, the accretion process breaks down.
A shockwave is then born from the immense forces and pressure, and in turn spews matter into the interstellar medium.
As this happens, electrons are accelerated to near light-speed, and emit energy at radio wavelengths as they interact with the magnetic field.
According to the researchers, the shock wave then causes the interstellar medium to inflate and heat up, letting out X-rays and stripping electrons from the surrounding neutral hydrogen atoms.
This process results in ionized hydrogen gas.
The experts say the ‘bubble’ created by the blast can be detected as arcs of different wavelengths by Chandra and Hubble.
‘Comparing the VLA images at radio wavelengths to Chandra’s X-ray observations and the hydrogen-emission detected by Hubble, shows that features are not only connected, but that the radio outflows are in fact the progenitors of the structures seen by Chandra and Hubble,’ said Dr Hayden Rampardarath.
‘This is an event of galactic proport ions that we can see right across the electromagnetic spectrum.’
Every so often, a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy 25 million light years away lets out a belch of ‘galactic proportions,’ spewing matter into the surrounding space. A stock image is pictured
The researchers say the arcs detected by the instruments date back millions of years.
Eventually, several bullion years in the future, the two galaxies will merge to become one.
‘The age of the arcs in NGC 5195 is 1-2 million years,’ Rampardarath said.
‘To put that into context, the first traces of matter were being forced out of the black hole in this system at about the time that our ancestors were learning to make fire.
‘That we are able to observe this event now through such a range of astronomical facilities is quite remarkable.’
0 Response to "Study pinpoints 'indigestion' in supermassive black hole"
Posting Komentar