Study proves black hole in galaxy M87 is rotating

A study recently published in the journal Nature successfully concluded a cycle of observations carried out by telescopes around the world for more than 20 years. Chinese researcher Dr. Under the leadership of Cui Yuzhu, Scientists have concluded that the supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of the M87 galaxy is rotating. It creates a 10 degree oscillation in its jet.

Four years ago, M87 had already attracted media attention due to its image taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). The new discovery reveals one of the most important properties of a black hole that has so far been proposed only in theory: its spin. According to the fundamental principle of astrophysics known as the “no hair theorem”, the other two are: mass and electric charge.

The worldwide spread of an object that can even capture light in its gravitational field has made M87 the most famous SMBH and also the most studied object. Although the giant at the center of the Messier 87 galaxy is not the largest known black hole, it has a mass of 6.5 billion times that of the Sun and a diameter of approximately 40 billion kilometers. This means it is much larger than our entire galaxy..

How was the spin of the M87 black hole detected?

Even though there was no certainty in obtaining an image of the black hole, astronomers regularly focused their telescopes on the M87 galaxy. Thus, it was possible to collect data from observations made by 20 radio telescopes spread around the world between 2000 and 2022. The ensemble showed a recurring 11-year cycle in the motion of the relativistic jet base.

Because isolated images of these jets launching from the black hole in opposite directions were not enough to prove spin, the team at the Zhejiang Laboratory in China stacked 164 images into two-year-old boxes. The main question of the study was: What force in the universe could change the direction of such a powerful jet with speeds close to the speed of light?

In a statement, the authors note that “the answer may be hidden in the behavior of the accretion disk,” a structure that brings together materials to be swallowed across the event horizon. Therefore, if the black hole is spinning, it will have a violent impact on the surrounding space-time. causes nearby objects to drift along their axis, As predicted in Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity.

Future Research on Black Hole Spins

Although current research shows The giant black hole is actually rotatingStudies on SMEs still need more information. In the case of M87, data such as the structure of the accretion disk and the exact value of its rotation are still unknown.

The search for spinning black holes is just beginning, as the study predicts the existence of many sources with this configuration.

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