First direct image of a black hole spewing out a powerful jet

Astronomers have observed, for the first time in the same image, the shadow of the black hole at the center of the Messier 87 (M87) galaxy and the powerful jet that this object shoots into space.

The observations were made in 2018 using telescopes belonging to the GMVA (Global Millimeter VLBI Array), ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, ESO partner) and GLT (Greenland Telescope) networks.

This new image helps astronomers better understand the process that causes black holes to emit jets. very active.

Most galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their centre. Although it is known Swallowing the substance from its vicinity Black holes can instantly spew powerful jets of matter that extend far beyond the galaxies they host.

Understanding how black holes create such large jets has been a long-standing problem in astronomy.

“We know that jets shoot out from the region around black holes,” he says. ru sen From the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in China, “However, we still don’t fully understand how this happens.”

“To study this phenomenon directly, we have to observe the jet’s origin as close to the black hole as possible,” he adds.

The new image, now published, shows this for the first time: how the base of the plane is attached to the matter orbiting a supermassive black hole.

The goal is Galaxy M87Located 55 million light-years away, in our cosmic neighborhood, it is home to a black hole 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun.

Previous observations managed to obtain separate images of the region near the black hole and the jet, however, this is the first time that both structures are observed together.

This is the new picture complete the pictureby showing the region around the black hole and the plane simultaneously,” he adds Jae Young Kim from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany.

The image was obtained using GMVA, ALMA, and GLT, which make up a global network of radio telescopes, and work together as if they were a giant Earth-sized virtual telescope.

With this large network of telescopes, we can observe very fine details in the surrounding area The black hole of M87.

The new image file appears The jet exiting near the black holeas well as the shadow of the black hole itself.

As it orbits the black hole, Matter heats up and emits light. The black hole bends and captures some of this light, creating a ring-like structure around the black hole when viewed from Earth.

The darkness in the center of the ring is the shadow of the black hole, which was first imaged with the EHT (Event Horizon Telescope) telescope in 2017.

Both this new image and the image previously acquired with the EHT combine data collected by many radio telescopes around the world, but this recently released image shows the radio radiation emitted at a longer wavelength than the EHT: 3.5 millimeters instead of 1.3 millimeters. .

“At this wavelength, we can see how the jet exits the emission ring around the central supermassive black hole,” he says. Thomas Kirchbaumfrom the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.

Ring size noted by the GMVA network about 50% larger From the image obtained using EHT.

“To understand the physical origin of the larger, thicker ring, we had to use computer simulations to test different scenarios,” he explains. Kitchi asadaFrom the Academia Sinica in Taiwan.

The results indicate that the new image reveals more material falling toward the black hole than we can see using the EHT.

These new observations of the M87 black hole were made in 2018 using the GMVA, which consists of 14 radio telescopes Installed in Europe and North America. In addition, two other facilities are connected to the GMVA: the Greenland Telescope and ALMA, of which ESO is a partner.

ALMA, made up of 66 antennas installed in the Chilean Atacama Desert, played a major role in these observations.

The data collected by all of these telescopes has been compiled using a technique called interferometrywhich synchronizes the signals captured by each individual infrastructure.

However, to correctly get the true shape of an astronomical object, it is important to have telescopes spread across the entire planet.

GMVA telescopes are mostly East-West alignmentso the addition of ALMA in the Southern Hemisphere proved essential to capture this image of the jet shadow and black holes of M87.

“Thanks to ALMA’s location and sensitivity, we were able to detect the black hole’s shadow and, at the same time, observe the jet’s emissions in greater depth,” Lu explains.

Future observations using this network of telescopes are planned, to further investigate how supermassive black holes launch Very powerful planes.

“We plan to monitor the region around the black hole at the center of M87 at different radio wavelengths to better study the jet emissions,” he says. Eduardo Ross from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.

These types of simultaneous observations will allow the team to study the complex processes that occur near the supermassive black hole.

“The next few years are going to be very interesting as we learn more about what’s going on near one of the most mysterious regions of the universe,” Ross concludes.