supermassive black hole tagged posts

Artist impression of Abell 2597 showing the central supermassive black hole expelling cold, molecular gas — like the pump of a giant intergalactic fountain.
Credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF; D. Berry

Plumes of cold molecular gas spray out by black hole a billion light-years from Earth. Galaxy evolution can be chaotic and messy, but it seems that streams of cold gas spraying out from the region around supermassive black holes may act to calm the storm. This is according to an international team of scientists who have provided the first clear and compelling evidence of this process in action.

Using the Atacama Large Millimetre/submillimetre Array (ALMA) of telescopes, the team, which includes researchers from Cardiff University, has observed a supermassive black hole acting like a ‘monumental fountain’...

Observations made with ESO’s Very Large Telescope have for the first time revealed the effects predicted by Einstein’s general relativity on the motion of a star passing through the extreme gravitational field near the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. This long-sought result represents the climax of a 26-year-long observation campaign using ESO’s telescopes in Chile.

Observations made with ESO’s Very Large Telescope have for the first time clearly revealed the effects of Einstein’s general relativity on the motion of a star passing through the extreme gravitational field very close to the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. This long-sought result represents the climax of a 26-year-long observation campaign using ESO’s telescopes in Chile.

Obscure...

Artist’s conception of Tidal Disruption Event (TDE) in Arp 299. Powerful gravity of supermassive black hole shreds passing star, pulling material into disk rotating around the black hole, and launching jet of particles outward. Artist’s conception in pullout — background is Hubble Space Telescope image of Arp 299, a pair of colliding galaxies. Credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/AUI/NSF; NASA, STScI

Star is shredded – Radio telescopes show aftermath. For the first time, astronomers have directly imaged the formation and expansion of a fast-moving jet of material ejected when the powerful gravity of a supermassive black hole ripped apart a star that wandered too close to the cosmic monster.

The scientists tracked the event with radio and infrared telescopes, including the National Science Foundat...

The orbit of S0-2 (light blue) located near the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole will be used to test Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity and generate potentially new gravitational models. Credit: S. SAKAI/A.GHEZ/W. M. KECK OBSERVATORY/ UCLA GALACTIC CENTER GROUP

No companion found for famous young bright star orbiting Milky Way’s supermassive black hole. Astronomers have the “all-clear” for an exciting test of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, thanks to a new discovery about S0-2’s star status. Up until now, it was thought that S0-2 may be a binary, a system where two stars circle around each other. Having such a partner would have complicated the upcoming gravity test.

A team of astronomers led by a UCLA scientist from Hawaii has found that S0-2 does not have a significant ...