Two years ago, astronomers obtained the first direct image of a black hole. A coordinated observation campaign of this object now contributes to our understanding of this black hole and its turbulent environment.
This supermassive black hole is the core of the elliptical galaxy M87 and carries the mass of 6.5 billion suns. In April 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration launched a direct image of this object, which was an unmatched achievement for astronomers.
Our understanding of the M87 black hole has taken a big leap forward due to an extensive observation campaign of the object, the details of which now appears in Astrophysical Journal Letters. This colossal campaign took place from April to March 2017, involving 760 scientists from nearly 200 institutions around the world.
“This incredible series of observations contains many of the best telescopes in the world,” Juan Carlos Algaba, an astronomer from the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, told a NASA JPL. Press release. “This is a wonderful example of astronomers around the world working together in the pursuit of science.”
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A total of 19 different observatories were used during the campaign, including the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. These observatories scanned the entire electromagnetic spectrum and presented observations of the M87 black hole in radio waves, visible light, X-rays and gamma rays.
“We knew the first direct image of a black hole would be groundbreaking work,” Kazuhiro Hada, a co-author of the study and an astronomer at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, explained in the NASA issue. “But to make the most of this remarkable image, we need to know everything we can about the behavior of the black hole at that time by looking at the entire electromagnetic spectrum.”
An accompanying video shows the power of this multi-wavelength approach. The video begins with the now-iconic image of the M87 black hole, and it slowly zooms back to expose the whole spectacle in context. The scale is shown in light years, and each observatory receives credit for its exceptional contribution. Side-by-side comparisons are also shown, which reflected the appearance of the black hole as in radio waves, visible light and X-rays. The last part of the video shows the black hole and its ray in gamma rays, as seen through the Fermi telescope.
The high-velocity beam is a striking feature of these and many other supermassive black holes. These jets are the result of tremendous gravitational forces involved, and they move at speeds that approach the light of the light.
These rays produce different intensities of light across the spectrum, and scientists are eager to study the complex patterns in them, as they are indicative of black hole rotation, energy output, and other properties. But this is not an easy task, as these variables are constantly changing over time. The new research, through its coordinated campaign, was an attempt to overcome this limitation and capture a snapshot of the black hole with a multi-wavelength using data that passed through both of these at about the same time. observatories were intercepted. And it is indeed the ‘largest simultaneous observation campaign ever undertaken on a supermassive black hole with rays’, according to NASA.
The results could improve the tests of Einstein’s theory of general relativity and give a better understanding of the rays and their possible association with cosmic rays.
“Understanding the particle acceleration is very important for our understanding of the EHT image as well as the rays in all their ‘colors’,” said Sera Markoff, a co-author of the study and an astronomer at the University of Amsterdam. . in the press release. These radiators succeed in exporting energy released through the black hole to scales larger than the host system, such as a large power cable. Our results will help us calculate the amount of force carried, and the effect that the rays of the black hole have on its environment. ”
More observations are needed, but the good news is that the EHT has launched a new observation campaign this week. Strikingly, the new campaign will be even bigger, as it now includes the Kitt Peak Telescope in Arizona, the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) in France and the Greenland Telescope.
The results of the 2021 observation campaign will probably not be available for a while, but we can not wait to see the result, including how the M87 black hole has changed over the past four years.
More: In March 2021, astronomers first took a picture of the M87 black hole’s magnetic field lines.