Astronomers have witnessed a supermassive black hole hurling matter at 20% the speed of light
Sandeep K S
15 minutes ago
1 min read
Witness the unprecedented ejection of matter at 20% the speed of light, observed over a 10-day period using a fleet of seven telescopes, including XRISM. Triggered by magnetic reconnection, this phenomenon, 10 billion times more powerful than a solar flare, shapes the evolution of entire galaxies.
Astronomers have witnessed a supermassive black hole hurling matter at 20% the speed of light—driven not by heat, but by snapping magnetic fields.
We usually think of black holes ejecting matter via radiation pressure (heat). But SRON researchers found something different: the outburst was driven by Magnetic Reconnection.
This is the same mechanism that causes solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) on our Sun. Magnetic field lines twist, snap, and reconnect, releasi
An unusually bright flare in a distant galaxy wasn't a supernova. It was a star being ripped apart by a hidden black hole.
The flare AT2022zod lasted just over a month. It was detected in an elliptical galaxy about 10,000 light-years from the center.
Astronomers had to rule out the usual suspects. It was too bright and fast for a standard supernova. It wasn't the galaxy's central supermassive black hole (too far away).
Astronomers have found the chemical fingerprints of the first "Monster Stars"—titans 10,000 times the mass of the Sun—solving the mystery of supermassive black holes.
How do you get so much nitrogen? The answer lies inside stars weighing 10,000 times the mass of the Sun.
In these titans, the core is so hot that the CNO Cycle (Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen) goes into overdrive.
Comments