Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery, providing direct evidence of a spinning black hole. This monumental finding was made by studying powerful jets of energy emitted from the first ever imaged black hole, located at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy. The scientific community has long theorized that the rotation of a black hole generates these jets, and now this theory has been proven. Not only is this an exciting breakthrough that supports Einstein’s theory of relativity, but it also has the potential to unravel the mysteries surrounding the universe’s most enigmatic objects.
M87 is a radio galaxy situated 55 million light-years away from Earth, housing a supermassive black hole that is 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun. Scientists analyzed the black hole’s jets and found that one of them was oscillating around a central point on the edge of the black hole, resembling the motion of a spinning top.
Black holes are incredibly dense, with a gravitational pull so strong that no form of radiation, including light, can escape them. They act as gravitational powerhouses that attract dust and gas in their vicinity. It is believed that stars in galaxies orbit around these black holes due to their intense gravitational forces. The formation of black holes is still not fully understood, but astronomers speculate that they may originate from the collapse of a large gas cloud, up to 100,000 times the size of the Sun. These black hole seeds merge together, gradually forming supermassive black holes that reside at the core of every massive galaxy.
Alternatively, a supermassive black hole seed could result from the collapse of a giant star, approximately 100 times the mass of the Sun. When these massive stars die, they undergo a supernova explosion, ejecting matter into space. The image captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) four years ago depicted the M87 black hole as a fuzzy orange “donut.” However, with the enhancement from artificial intelligence, it was later redefined as a “skinny ring”.
Dr. Kazuhiro Hada, a co-author of the study from the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, expressed the excitement among scientists, stating, “After the success of black hole imaging in this galaxy with the EHT, whether this black hole is spinning or not has been a central concern among scientists. Now anticipation has turned into certainty. This monster black hole is indeed spinning.”
Black holes’ gravitational pull is so intense that nothing, not even light, can escape. However, they can still be observed due to the presence of an accretion disk. This disk consists of gas and dust swirling on the edge of the black hole’s event horizon. While some of this material is consumed by the black hole, a small portion is ejected at speeds exceeding 99.99% of the speed of light.
Scientists previously theorized that the black hole’s spin might be responsible for the creation of astrophysical jets, first observed in 1918. According to this theory, charged particles in the accretion disk generate a strong magnetic field, which is then manipulated by the spinning black hole, resulting in the ejection of energy jets. The recent data collected from a global network of radio telescopes between 2000 and 2022 revealed that the jet appears to swing like a pendulum on an 11-year cycle, akin to the motion of a spinning top.
The authors of the study stated that the detection of this precession provides unequivocal evidence that the supermassive black hole in M87 is indeed spinning, further enhancing our understanding of these cosmic entities. Notably, the results obtained align with theoretical supercomputer simulations and correspond to the predictions made by Einstein in his theory of general relativity.
Researchers hope that this discovery will shed light on the formation and evolution of black holes, leading to a better comprehension of these extraordinary celestial bodies. The study, documenting this breakthrough, has been published in the journal Nature.
Messier 87, the elliptical galaxy encompassing this supermassive black hole, boasts several trillion stars, a family of approximately 15,000 globular star clusters, and a massive black hole. M87 is a dominant member of the Virgo cluster of galaxies, which contains around 2,000 galaxies. Discovered by Charles Messier in 1781, this galaxy resides 54 million light-years away from Earth in the Virgo constellation. It is easily observable using a small telescope, with optimal views available in May.
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