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Displayed as a ribbon of crimson radio outputs, a colossal burst of energy ejected from a supermassive black hole illustrates the account of a revived behemoth.(Image credit: LOFAR/Pan-STARRS/S. Kumari et al.)ShareShare by:
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Researchers have noticed a supermassive black hole awakening from a nearly 100 million-year slumber.
The black hole resides at the heart of a mammoth galaxy that is radiating exceptionally intense radio frequencies. A fresh examination of these radio emissions indicates that the black hole previously discharged enormous jets of plasma hundreds of thousands of light-years into space, before abruptly ceasing activity at some point in the remote past. According to the recent study, those jets are currently reactivated, engaging in intricate and turbulent interactions with the extremely heated gas encircling them.
“It’s akin to witnessing a celestial volcano erupt anew following eras of stillness — only this one is of such a magnitude that it can sculpt formations spanning close to a million light-years across the cosmos,” remarked study co-author Shobha Kumari, an astronomer from Midnapore City College in India, in a statement.
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Galactic engine trouble
Just 10% to 20% of supermassive black holes possess jets that discharge radio signals. Inside these galaxies, a spinning accumulation of dust and plasma spirals around the black hole, routinely providing it with ample quantities of matter. This plunging matter engenders a muddled magnetic realm capable of propelling some substance away from the black hole within massive jets. Fluctuations in the accretion disc might trigger these radio jets to switch off and on occasionally.
Within the recent investigation, documented Jan. 15 within the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the researchers utilized the Low-Frequency Array, a system of radio telescopes situated largely in the Netherlands, to discover upwards of 20 galaxy clusters housing radio galaxies exhibiting oddly configured jets. Their attention centered on one such galaxy, identified as J1007+3540, which showcased an exceptionally peculiar characteristic.
The active black hole (at the core of the domain designated ‘host galaxy’) along with its dual lobes of potent radio jets.
The expansive galaxy features extensive, scattered lobes of plasma that denote prior jet activity stretching back around 240 million years. Nevertheless, situated within those lobes are smaller, more radiant plasma jets that are merely 140 million years in age, as determined by the team. That implied that the active galactic nucleus (AGN) — the central zone harboring a galaxy’s supermassive black hole — had reignited following a duration of idleness.
“This remarkable arrangement of fresh jets nestled inside more aged, exhausted lobes epitomizes an episodic AGN — a galaxy whose core engine continually cycles on and off throughout cosmic spans,” Kumari stated.
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The area separating the galaxies within the cluster encompassing J1007+3540 is saturated with intensely heated gas recognized as the intracluster medium. That gas relates with the radio jets, contorting and sculpting them as they emanate from the AGN. One of the pair of more ancient lobes is compressed sideways and back towards its origin by the encompassing gas. The opposing lobe boasts an extensive, skewed tail, intimating that the intracluster medium is associating with the jets diversely.
“J1007+3540 constitutes one of the most explicit and striking instances of episodic AGN accompanied by jet-cluster interrelation, wherein the neighboring hot gas deflects, constricts, and mutilates the jets,” affirmed study co-author Surajit Pal, a physicist affiliated with the Manipal Centre for Natural Sciences in India, within the statement.
Observing J1007+3540 will benefit researchers in ascertaining the frequency with which AGNs activate and deactivate, along with the means by which older jets engage with their milieu. In subsequent undertakings, the team intends to procure high-resolution observations of the galaxy to chart the manner in which the jets proliferate through the intracluster medium, according to the statement.
Skyler WareSocial Links NavigationLive Science Contributor
Skyler Ware functions as a freelance science journalist, addressing chemistry, biology, paleontology, and Earth science. She held the position of a 2023 AAAS Mass Media Science and Engineering Fellow at Science News. Her contributions have furthermore surfaced in Science News Explores, ZME Science, and Chembites, among others. Skyler holds a Ph.D. in chemistry obtained from Caltech.
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