M87* is a supermodel of black holes. If not so long ago it was unthinkable to photograph black holeToday it is still difficult, but it is already a reality. A reality actually made possible by M87*, the black hole from which most of the photographs published to date come from. At first it was his shadow that went down in history, and now jets of matter what does he banish
Until now, much is unknown about the jets ejected by black holes. For this reason, the opportunity to study them in a photograph like the one just published in Nature This is a breakthrough.
This has been achieved through a network of radio telescopes around the world that act like the Earth’s largest telescope. land size. Thanks to this and artificial intelligence, it has recently become possible to improve the resolution of that first photograph of the shadow of the black hole M87*. Let’s hope that many more will be available in the future, which will improve our understanding of these voracious universes.
Why is M87* the perfect black hole to photograph?
Almost all galaxies have a large black hole at the center, but not all are equally good for photographing.
In the case of M87*, it was chosen for two reasons. On the one hand, since it’s pretty close from Earth, about 55 million light years. On the other hand, because it very big6.5 million times the mass of the Sun.
Another black hole that was photographed Sagittarius A*. It is much closer to the Earth, since it is the black hole that is located in the center of our galaxy. However, this Significantly less, with a mass a thousand times less than that of M87*. For this reason, when it was decided to deal with black hole jets, it was decided to resort again to M87*.
A large network of telescopes to immortalize the jets
Black holes are so massive that even light cannot escape their gravitational pull. For this reason, it is known that around them are formed material discs it’s spinning before being swallowed by them. It’s kind of like spinning the water before it hits the sink drain.
They all have something known as event horizon, which is the distance at which nothing can leave the black hole. This is something that was known and studied long before the first image of a black hole was taken. However, photographs help to better understand the process.
On the other hand, there are jets. It is also known that any object captured by a black hole, before passing beyond the event horizon and being completely absorbed, is pressed by tidal forces generated by gravity so strongly that a small part of the matter shoots at the speed of light. Very roughIt’s like when we squeeze a bottle of ketchup or a lemon, and some of the contents are thrown out instead of ending up on the plate where it should be put.
These aircraft have been known for many years, but there are still some data that remain unknown. But now, thanks to this new photo, they can be studied in more detail. It was captured thanks to images taken Global VLBI Millimeter Array, Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array and Greenland Telescope.
Previously, to get the first photograph of a black hole, radio waves 1.3mmwhile this time they were used 3.5mm. Thus, both the shadow and the jets can be seen. This is made possible by the fact that the antennas of the telescopes are so far apart that the entire planet acts as one large antenna. Without a doubt, this is a great discovery that shows that photographing black holes has only just begun.
Source: Hiper Textual
