2023-07-11 04:00:04
A team of astronomers from the University of Birmingham, University College London and Queen’s University Belfast have discovered one of the most spectacular black hole “ignitions” ever observed. They presented their findings at the national astronomy (Astronomy is the science of observing the stars, seeking to explain…) of 2023 in Cardiff. The work has also been published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
A supermassive black hole devours a star.
Image Wikimedia Commons
The source of this cosmic spectacle is J221951, one of the brightest transients – objects whose brightness changes over a short period of time – on record. It was discovered in September 2019 by Dr Samantha Oates and her team at the University of Birmingham (The University of Birmingham (University of Birmingham or Birmingham University) is the most…). Instead of finding a kilonova – the sign of a neutron star merging with another neutron star or a black hole (In astrophysics, a black hole is a massive object whose gravitational field is so intense…) – l he team discovered something even more unusual. The phenomenon appeared blue, but did not change color (Color is the eye’s subjective perception of one or more wave frequencies…) or fade quickly as a kilonova would do.
J221951 has been tracked with many telescopes, including NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and ESO’s Very Large Telescope. A spectrum of J221951 taken with the space telescope (A space telescope is a telescope placed beyond the atmosphere. The…) Hubble ruled out the association of J221951 with possible gravitational waves. Dr. Oates and his team were able to determine that the source is about 10 billion light-years away, making J221951 one of the brightest transient objects ever detected.
The event would have been born from the engulfment by a supermassive black hole of the surrounding material very quickly after a long period of calm. Two possible mechanisms could explain this phenomenon: a “tidal disturbance event” – the destabilization of a star as it passes near the supermassive black hole – or the “change of state” of an active galactic nucleus of a dormant state to an active state.
Dr. Matt Nicholl from Queen’s University Belfast said: “J221951 is one of the most extreme examples of what a supermassive black hole can do. Dr. N. Paul Kuin from University College London (University College London, commonly abbreviated UCL, is the oldest college…) points out: “The key discovery was made when the ultraviolet spectrum (Ultraviolet (UV) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a length…) spread a galactic origin. Dr Samantha Oates adds: “We will continue to monitor J221951 over the coming months and years to record its long-term behavior.”
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