Astronomers capture a massive volcanic eruption of a black hole near Earth, 16 times larger than a full moon in the sky

The study was published in the journal on December 22, 2021 Natural Astronomy.

Lead author Dr. Benjamin McKinley, of Curtin Node University, International Center for Research in Radio Astronomy (ICRAR), said the image reveals surprising new details about the galactic radio emission.

“These radio waves come from material absorbed in the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy,” he said.

“It forms a disk around the black hole, and when material near the black hole separates, powerful jets form on either side of the disk, throwing most of the material into space, at distances of perhaps over a million light-years.

“Previous radio observations were unable to handle the extreme brightness of the jets, and details of the larger region around the galaxy were distorted, but our new image overcomes these limitations.”

Video clip showing the radioactive galaxy Centaurus A, which is home to the nearest black hole actively feeding Earth. The video shows the galaxy’s apparent size in light, X-rays, and wavelengths less than a few millimeters from Earth compared to the Moon. Then it is zoomed out to show the massive size of the surrounding bubbles observed at radio wavelengths. Astronomers have captured the most comprehensive picture of radio emissions from the nearest supermassive black hole feeding Earth.

Centaurus A is the closest radio galaxy to our galaxy Milky Way.

Dr. said. McKinley.

“Not only at radio wavelengths, but also at all other wavelengths of light.

“In this study, we were able to combine radio observations with optical and X-ray data to help us better understand the physics of these supermassive black holes.”

Tile 107, or “outside” as it’s known, is one of MWA’s 256 tiles, located 1.5 kilometers from the telescope’s core. Lighting tiles and ancient landscaping are the moon. Credit: Pete Wheeler, ICRAR

Astrophysicist Dr. Massimo Gaspari, of Italy’s National Institute of Astrophysics, said the study supports a new theory known as “chaotic cold accretion” (CCA), which has emerged in several areas.

“In this model, cold gas clouds condense in the galactic halo and fall over the central regions, feeding the supermassive black hole,” he said.

Dr. concluded.

Doctor. The galaxy appears brighter in the center, McKinley said, where it is more active and has a lot of energy.

“Then it will be weaker when you leave because the energy is wasted and you sort things out,” he said.

“But there are interesting features where charged particles accelerate and interact with strong magnetic fields.”

MWA Director Professor Stephen Tingay said the study was made possible by the telescope’s extremely wide field of view, the silent radio’s excellent location and its excellent sensitivity.

“MWA is a precursor to the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) – a global initiative to build the world’s largest radio telescopes in Western Australia and South Africa,” he said.

“The wide field of view and, as a consequence, the huge amount of data we can collect means that the detection potential of any MWA vision is very high. This is a fantastic step towards a larger SKA.”

Reference: “Multiple observations and feed in the nearest radio galaxy Centaurus A” by B. McKinley, S. J. Tingay, M. Gaspari, R. P. Kraft, C. Matherne, A. R. Offringa, M. McDonald, M. S. Calzadilla, S. Veilleux, S. S. Shabala , SDJ Gwyn, J. Bland-Hawthorn, D. Crnojević, B. M. Gaensler, and M. Johnston-Hollitt, Available here December 22, 2021. natural astronomy.
DOI: 10.1038 / s41550-021-01553-3

The Murchison-Widefield Array is an MWA operated and operated by Curtin University on behalf of an international consortium located at the Murchison Radio Astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. The observatory is operated by CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, with support from the Australian and Western Australian governments. We are aware that the Wajarri Yamatji are the traditional owners of the observatory.

The Pawsey Supercomputing Research Center in Perth – a nationally funded Tier 1 supercomputing facility – helped store and process the MWA notes used in this study.