A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the light began to shine suddenly. Well, actually it wasn’t that long ago. This happened in 2019. But the galaxy was really far away, because it SDSS1335+0728, is in 300 million light years from Earth, in the constellation Virgo. Since then, this mysterious light has only intensified. The scientists who discovered it joined other researchers, analyzing data from other telescopes and finally came to a stunning conclusion: they had captured waking up from a big black hole.
Black holes are so massive that they attract anything that comes within a certain distance of them, known as the event horizon. Nothing can escape gravitational pull, not even light. When material falls on it, it becomes extremely hot, emitting glow and radiation of many types, especially X-ray pictures.
In fact, the most common way to detect a black hole is by detecting its characteristic X-ray emission pattern. It is believed that most black holes in the Universe are such. inactive. This means they don’t emit x-rays because they don’t absorb anything, so they are very difficult to find. The situation changes when the gas cloud goes beyond the event horizon. At this moment, the black hole awakens from sleep and begins to absorb everything around it. Perhaps this is exactly what these scientists caught, although this will still have to be verified.
Awakening the Black Hole
Brightness discovered in 2019 thanks to Very Large Telescope (VLT) The European Southern Observatory (ESO) was completely new. Before this, this region of the galaxy had not emitted so much radiation. It was initially thought that this could be the result supernova explosion. Or maybe, tide, which occurs when a star is consumed by a black hole and disintegrates, emitting large amounts of radiation. Both options would match the detected brightness, were it not for the fact that in these cases the brightness usually lasts only a few days. Moreover, it is gradually fading away.
On the other hand, the brightness detected in this galaxy was in a crescendo Since then, and even today, almost 5 years later, it continues to be discovered. large amount of radiation. To try to figure out what it is, the scientists responsible for the discovery joined other astronomers from around the world. They used new and past data from the VLT and other telescopes to reconstruct the activity of SDSS1335+0728 over recent years. Thus, it was seen that recently it has been emitting more and more at wavelengths in the ultraviolet, infrared and visible range. But, in addition, in February 2024began to emit large amounts of X-rays.
This fits perfectly with the awakening of a black hole, which would remain dormant until it began to consume matter around it, when this increase in brightness was disrupted.
Other options
The option of awakening a black hole is the most plausible. If confirmed, it will be the first time something like this has been discovered. If it turned out to be anything else, it might seem disappointing, but even alternatives are revolutionary options.
For example, it could be the slowest and weakest tide ever recorded, or a new astronomical event. Nothing like what the VLT captured in 2019 has ever been described, and other telescopes have continued to capture it since then. Whether it is the awakening of a black hole or any other phenomenon, the discovery is truly exciting.
Source: Hiper Textual
