This image is unique: it shows a black hole and its powerful jet
Never had such an image been obtained. For the first time, we can observe the shadow of a black hole and its powerful jet of matter in a single image. It is also the black hole of the galaxy M87, the first of which we had seen the "photo".
Astronomers never tire of observing black holes . A new image from their observations is unique: for the first time, we have the direct image of a black hole expelling a powerful jet, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced on April 26, 2023. Previously, scientists had only obtained separate images of the area near the black hole and the jet. Now we see them simultaneously. A study on this subject was published in the journal Nature the same day.
?What do we see in this black hole image
On the image, we can distinguish the shadow of a black hole, explains the ESO. Not just any: it is the supermassive black hole located in the center of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87), named M87* . This colossus of 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun evolves in the heart of its galaxy, 55 million light-years from Earth. M87* is the first black hole imaged by humanity , the photo of which was presented in 2019.
A jet is also observed. " The images show that the bright jet at the edges is connected to the black hole's accretion flow ," the study reads. This is a very important observation to better understand how black holes manage to eject such structures.
zoom on the black hole m87*. we also distinguish its jet of matter. // source: r.-s. lu (shao), e. ros (mpifr), s. dagnello (nrao/aui/nsf)
It seems counter-intuitive to say that a black hole emits matter. These astrophysical objects are known to gobble up everything that passes near them. However, black holes are quite capable of emitting jets, propelled at impressive speeds and dizzying distances. “ The new image released today shows precisely that for the first time: how the base of a jet connects with matter swirling around a supermassive black hole ,” ESO said in a statement.
artist's impression of the black hole and its jet. // source: s. dagnello (nrao/aui/nsf)
New insight into 'one of the most mysterious regions of the Universe'
To observe this binomial formed by the black hole and its jet, scientists mobilized several observatories in 2018: the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (a large network of radio telescopes in Europe and North America), the Large Network of Millimeter Antennas/ Atacama submillimeter (ALMA) and the Greenland Telescope. Together, these observatories formed the equivalent of a huge virtual radio telescope, the size of our planet . Scientists can thus see as many details in the vicinity of the black hole M87*.
The observations are not over, research will continue to understand the jets emitted by black holes. The researchers will look again at the region around M87*, in order to analyze the jet of material emerging so close to this black hole. Either, “ one of the most mysterious regions of the Universe ”, according to Eduardo Ros, of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, one of the authors of the discovery.
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