Scientists in real time saw the « awakening » of a black hole

Illustrative image of a black hole

Photo: European Space Agency

Astronomers in real time observed the « awakening » of a supermassive black hole after a long period of inaction. The space object suddenly illuminated and began to create unprecedented outbreaks.

This is stated in a study that Posted in Nature Astronomy, writes European Space Agency.

It is known that supermassive black holes do not constantly absorb the matter around, but can have long periods of inaction. This was the gravitational « Monster » in the center of a distant and not notable galaxy over 300 million light years from Earth.

After decades of lack of activity, the supermassive black hole suddenly « woke up ». The first signs of this were found at the end of 2019, when the galaxy began to shine unexpectedly, attracting the attention of astronomers.

For several years, scientists have studied the signs of activity there and found that unusual changes were the result of the transition of the black hole to the active phase. The bright core of the galaxy was called Anski.

Previously, scientists tried to detect X -rays there, but their attempts were in vain. However, in February 2024, a team of researchers saw X -rays outbreaks from Anski, which took place at almost equal intervals.

« This rare event gives astronomers the opportunity to observe the behavior of a black hole in real time using X -ray space telescopes.

This phenomenon is known as a quasi -periodic eruption, or QPE. Qpe is short -term outbreaks. And this is the first time we watched such an event in a black hole that seems to wake up« ,-explained the leader of the study of Lauren Ernandez-Garzia.

Scientists have found that splanges from a black hole are ten times longer and brighter than what is usually caused by quasi -period eruptions.

« Each of these eruptions releases a hundred times more energy than we saw somewhere.

Ansky eruptions also show the longest frequency that have ever been observed about 4.5 days. It pushes our models to the boundaries and challenges our ideas about how these X -ray outbreaks are generated– added the team member Jookhin Chacrobort.

So far, scientists do not know the cause of the unusual outbreaks of Anski. Usually QPE is considered a consequence of how supermassive black holes capture and devour stars. However, this is probably not happening from Anski.

Recall astronomers discoveredthat a black hole weighing 10 million times larger than the sun, absorbs material 40 times faster than the theoretical maximum.