X -ray explosions Ten times brighter And One hundred times more energetic of those observed normally have marked the awakening of a Black supermassive hole which is located at the center of a galaxy 300 million light years away. After decades of inactivity, in 2019 yes it is suddenly illuminated and in 2024 started producing flashes of X -rays unprecedentedattracting the attention of astronomers. Since then the black hole has been constantly observed by more Space telescopesincluding Xmm-Newton of the European Space Agency. The research, published in the magazine Nature Astronomy, was coordinated by the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (Mas), which includes five Chilean universities, and by the University of Valparaíso. Italy participated with the National Institute of Astrophysics.
“This rare event offers astronomers the opportunity to observe the behavior of a black hole in real time using X-ray spatial telescopes,” says research coordinator Lorena Hernández-García. “It is the first time – he adds – that we observe such an event in a black hole that is awakening”.
According to the hypothesis current, the flashes of X -rays emitted at more or less regular time intervalsi, like those observed in this case, are caused from an object like one star or a small black hole captured by the gravitational attraction of the largest black hole, which slowly tears away the matter of which it is composed. In this case, however, there is no evidence that such an event has occurred and this has prompted the researchers to consider other possibilities: for this particular black hole, which was nicknamed Ansky, the explosions of X -rays could be caused from violent disturbances of the growth disc that surrounds himperhaps caused by an object that crosses the material in orbit. Another anomaly it consists ofabsence of radio emissions.
“Despite the remarkable activity in the X -ray band, Ansky is still dormant in the radio band”, comments Gabriele Bruni of the INAF, among the authors of the study: “In the coming months we will continue to keep an eye on it to find the possible birth of a jet of this type, as already verified in other cases of reactivated active galactic nuclei”.
Reserved reproduction © Copyright Ansa
Source: Ansa
I am a journalist with over 6 years of experience working in the news industry. I currently work as an author for Global Happenings, and my coverage focuses on Technology news. I have written for various publications, including Reuters, The New York Times and The Guardian.
