The black hole “exploded” and scientists think they know why

A previously silent black hole, located at the center of a galaxy about 800 million light-years away, suddenly exploded, emitting masses of gas every 8.5 days, then returning to its normal state.

This “periodic hiccup” is a new behavior that has not been observed in black holes yet, according to researchers who We think the most likely explanation is due to the presence of a second black holesmaller in size, revolves around the centroid, and repeatedly impacts its gas disk.

This situation would cause material to be ejected from the gaseous disk of the larger black hole every 8.5 days.

The discoveries of this “dancing couple” were published in the magazine Advancement of science that it Questioning the traditional image of cumulative disks – A rotating structure of matter around the black hole – which were supposed to be relatively uniform gas disks, I reported this Wednesday Effie Agency.

Depending on the results, your content can be more diverseThat could include other black holes and even entire stars, the center said in a statement Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)who participated in the research with centers in the Czech Republic, Italy and the United Kingdom.

The results emerged through automated detection conducted by ASAS-SNIt is a network of 20 automated telescopes spread out in different locations in the northern and southern hemispheres. Which monitors the sky once a day for signs of supernovas and other fleeting phenomena.

In December 2020, they detected a burst of light in a galaxy located about 800 million light-years away, in a part of the sky that until then had been relatively quiet and dark.

The most likely explanation is The “David-Goliath” system.

The researchers then decided to focus on the explosion using NASA's Nicer telescope, a telescope on board the spacecraft International Space Station It constantly monitors the sky for X-ray bursts that could indicate the activity of neutron stars, black holes and other intense gravitational phenomena.

This phenomenon continued for about four months before it stopped During that period, Naicker made daily measurements of the galaxy's X-ray emission.

Examining the data, the team noticed a strange pattern: tiny dips, in a very narrow range of X-rays, that seemed to reappear every 8.5 days.

While the MIT team was looking for an explanation, one of their scientists, Dheeraj R. Basham, on a paper written by theoretical physicists in the Czech Republic, concluded that it is theoretically possible for a central supermassive black hole to exist in a galaxy. To host a second, much smaller hole.

This smaller planet could rotate at an angle to the accretion disk of its larger companion and, in doing so, would periodically impact the disk of the underlying black hole. In this process, a column of gas will be released.

After reading the article, Basham contacted the Czech team to check together: The observed explosion is likely a signal of a second, smaller black hole orbiting a supermassive central cluster, periodically impacting its disk.

Scientists also suspect that a third object – likely a nearby star – came too close to the system and tore apart. Due to the enormous gravity of the supermassive black hole, an event called “tidal disturbance.”

For four months, the black hole fed on stellar debris while the second black hole continued to orbit. As it passed through the disk, it ejected a mass much larger than usual, which was shot in a straight line toward the NESSER telescope.

After countless simulations, The most likely explanation is a new type of “David-Goliath” system: a small, intermediate-mass black hole orbiting a supermassive black hole.

With Lusa