Even matter ejected by black holes can run into objects in the dark. Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have found an unusual mark from a
, astronomers have found an unusual mark from a giant black hole’s powerful jet striking an unidentified object in its path.in its center sending out spectacular jets that stretch out across the entire galaxy. The black hole launches this jet of high-energy particles not from inside the black hole, but from intense gravitational and magnetic fields around it.In this latest study, researchers determined that the jet is — at least in certain spots — moving at close to the speed of light.
While the researchers have ideas about what is happening, the identity of the object being blasted is a mystery because it is too distant for its details to be seen, even in images from the current most powerful telescopes. The shape of the “V,” however, is not completely understood. The stream of X-rays trailing behind the source in the bottom arm of the “V” is roughly parallel to the jet, matching the picture of turbulence causing enhanced X-ray emission behind an obstacle in the path of the jet. The other arm of the “V” is harder to explain because it has a large angle to the jet, and astronomers are unsure what could explain that.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight operations from Burlington, Massachusetts.This release features a series of images focusing on a collision between a jet of matter blasting out of a distant black hole, and a mysterious, incognito object.
Black Holes Chandra X-Ray Observatory Galaxies Galaxies Stars & Black Holes Galaxies Stars & Black Holes Research Marshall Astrophysics Marshall Science Research & Projects Marshall Space Flight Center Science & Research The Universe
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