NASA Detects A Black Hole Feeding On The Remains Of A Nearby Star
Astronomers noticed the presence of a massive black hole devouring the remains of a star that was roaming very close to it, and witnessing the formation of a hot gaseous halo in unprecedented detail .
As the black hole , located at the heart of a galaxy 250 million light - years away, feeds on the remnants of the star, scientists have noticed a spike in high - energy X -ray light .
These emissions indicated that when matter is drawn towards the black hole , it forms a very hot plasma structure above the black hole called the “ halo .”
The destruction of stars due to the gravitational influence of black holes is called a tidal disruption event , or TDE .
The “ violent wave disturbance event ” observed by NASA , which it called AT2021ehb , included a black hole with a mass of about 10 million times the mass of our sun, which led to the transformation of a star orbiting near it into a mere band of gas .
The observations of AT2021ehb , the fifth - closest example of a TDE observed to date , provide scientists with the most detailed view ever of the formation of a hot structure above the black hole called the halo .
The findings could help scientists better understand the complex physics at play when material falls into black holes , a process called accretion , and what happens to stellar material from doomed stars before they are devoured .
" Violent wave disturbance events are a kind of cosmic laboratory , " study co- author Sofi Jazari , an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore , Maryland, said in a statement . It is our window into feeding a supermassive black hole lurking in the center of a galaxy in real time .”
In “ turbulence events , ” gravity pulls on one side of the star more than the other , generating a tidal force that rips , or “ makes spaghetti , ” out of the star , which is devoured by the black hole , leaving behind a long stream of hot gas .
This stellar " noodle " wraps around the central black hole , colliding with itself in the process . This effect produces shock waves and outflows of gases that generate light in a wide range of wavelengths , including visible light , ultraviolet light , and X - rays .
Eventually , the material settles into a disk- like structure called an accretion disk , with material orbiting the black hole and gradually being fed onto its surface .
Violent turbulence events occur over a period of only a few weeks or months from start to finish . For example , AT2021ehb has only 100 days . _ _
This short duration makes the turbulence event attractive to astronomers , who can use it to determine how the gravity of black holes manipulates matter to create powerful emissions and exotic physical environments .
AT2021ehb was first observed by the Zwicky Transit Facility (ZTF) , located at the Palomar Observatory in Southern California, on March 1 , 2021.
This observation was followed by the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and the Neutron Star Inner Composition Explorer (NICER) telescope .
Nearly ten months after this first observation , the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Satellite ( NuSTAR ) began studying AT2021ehb in X - ray light .
NuSTAR gave astronomers a surprise when they first detected the halo above the black hole . This came as a surprise because these clouds of hot plasma are usually seen in association with jets of gas emitted from black holes , but AT2021ehb had no associated jets .
" We 've never seen a violent wave turbulence event with X - ray emission like this without jet packs , " said Johann Yao , a graduate student at Caltech , who was involved in the study . _ _ _ _ _ _ _ It causes halo .
Our observations of AT2021ehb are consistent with the idea that magnetic fields have something to do with how the corona forms , and we want to know what makes this magnetic field so strong .”
Yao and the team will now look for more " violent wave disturbance events " to study with telescopes such as Swift , NICER and NuSTAR. These observations could add more details to the corona formation phenomenon seen around AT2021ehb . _
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