(CN) — Using the world’s largest low-frequency telescope, a group of international astronomers have documented for the first time the process of warm gas emanating from a black hole, according to new research released Monday.
"Our investigation shows how these gas bubbles accelerated by the black hole are expanding and transforming in time. Indeed, they create spectacular mushroom-shaped structures, rings and filaments that are similar to those originating from a powerful volcanic eruption on planet Earth", said first author Marisa Brienza, a researcher at the Department of Physics and Astronomy "Augusto Righi" of the University of Bologna in Italy.
These gas bubbles, according to the study published in the journal Nature Astronomy, were observed in the Nest200047 system, a group of about 20 galaxies located 200 million light-years from Earth.
An active black hole located in the central galaxy of the system was where the research team viewed “many pairs of gas bubbles diverse in age, some unknown filaments of magnetic fields and relativistic particles in special relativity as big as hundreds of thousands of light-years.”
As the gravity of black holes are strong enough to pull in light and can’t be seen by the human eye, researchers relied on LOFAR (Low Frequency Array), the world’s largest low-frequency radio telescope. The telescope allowed the scientists to intercept radiation made by the oldest electrons still detectable and trace 100 million years of activity.
At the heart of the research is the ability to detect how supermassive black holes, housed at the core of each galaxy, affects the evolution of galaxies.
"LOFAR gave us a unique view of the activity of black holes and their effects on their surrounding environment", said study author Annalisa Bonafede, professor at the University of Bologna. "Our observations of Nest200047 crucially show how magnetic fields and the very old particles accelerated by black holes and consequently aged play a central role in transferring energy to the outer regions of groups of galaxies.”
The researchers believe active black holes can have effects up to 100 times the size of the galaxies they’re located in that can leave impacts lasting hundreds of millions of years.
While observing the black hole, researchers also discovered thin gas filaments sometimes as long as a million light-years that move at the speed of light.
"In the future, we will be able to study the effects of black holes on galaxies and the intergalactic medium with increasing detail. Eventually, we will be able to unveil the nature of the filaments we discovered thanks to the angular resolution of LOFAR combined with the data from international LOFAR stations", said co-author Gianfranco Brunetti, astrophysicist at the INAF Bologna.
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