A black hole draws attention with a previously unique behavior. Researchers are speechless.
Black holes are threatening celestial objects : With their huge mass and the resulting gigantic gravity , they attract everything within their reach . They tear up stars and swallow matter - nothing that has passed the so-called “event horizon” will ever appear again. Not even light can escape a black hole. But now astronomers have discovered a black hole that stands out with "positive feedback", as the researchers involved in the discovery report.
"This is the first time that a single black hole has been used to stimulate star formation in more than one galaxy at the same time," says Roberto Gilli of the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) in Bologna, lead author of the study describing the discovery. The researchers around Gilli found a black hole in the center of a galaxy that is about 9.9 billion light years away from Earth. The black hole has apparently triggered the formation of stars in four of at least seven neighboring galaxies.
Black hole is a strong x-ray source
Hot gas swirls around the black hole, emitting X-rays, making the black hole a strong source of X-rays. A gigantic beam of high-energy particles emanates from the black hole, one end of the beam is surrounded by a diffuse X-ray cloud, which, according to the researchers, most likely comes from a huge hot gas bubble, which is caused by the interaction of the energetic particles in the beam with the surrounding matter is heated.
This hot bubble is apparently responsible for the formation of stars in neighboring galaxies. The bubble expanded and swept through four neighboring galaxies of the black hole. The shock waves that resulted from this would have compressed cool gas in the galaxies and led to the formation of stars, according to the researchers.
Four galaxies were excited by a black hole to form stars
All four galaxies that the black hole stimulated to form stars are about 400,000 light years from the center of the bubble. The star formation rate in the galaxies is two to five times higher than in comparable galaxies, according to the researchers. “We have the case of a black hole that helped convert gas into stars. Its reach is intergalactic, ”explains co-author Marco Mignoli.
Black holes mostly have a negative impact on their surroundings, for example they inhibit star formation by releasing too much energy into a galaxy. The gas in this galaxy cannot cool enough to form a large number of stars. However, it is less common for a black hole to have a positive effect on its surroundings.
Black holes are powerful and deadly - but not always
So far, astronomers have found cases in which a black hole promoted star formation, but the rate of star formation was significantly lower or only occurred in a neighboring galaxy 20,000 to 50,000 light years away. This usually happens when a black hole catapults matter away from it instead of sucking it in.
"Black holes have a well-deserved reputation: they are considered powerful and deadly - but not always," says another co-author of the study, Alessandro Peca. "This is a prime example of how they sometimes resist this stereotype."
Black hole produces hot gas bubble - which stimulates star formation
The researchers made a total of six observations with the "Chandra" X-ray space telescope over a period of five months. "Only because of these observations did we see the hot gas bubble that was produced by the black hole," said co-author Colin Norman. If you observed similar objects, you might find that positive feedback from black holes is common in the formation of galaxy groups, Norman believes.
The researchers' findings were published in the journal "Astronomy and Astrophysics". If the findings of the scientists are confirmed, it is the black hole with the greatest range: up to a million light years away. "It's incredible to imagine that the black hole in a galaxy can influence what happens in other galaxies millions and billions of miles away," says lead author Gilli.
Current research around black holes
Black holes are always an issue in research. Recently, scientists discovered a stellar black hole that shouldn't actually exist *: It has far too much mass. Researchers watched another black hole tear a star apart *. Other researchers have made a sensational accident: They discovered three huge black holes on a collision course. Is the mysterious “Planet 9” a black hole in the solar system? Researchers speculate about this. Researchers from Germany have recently discovered the most massive black hole to date. Another team of researchers found a source of black hole food in the early universe.
A previously inconspicuous star system in the constellation arrow is on the best way to merge. Researchers have calculated a not too distant period for this.
By Tanja Banner
* fr.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital central editorial office.