Black holes are known to devour matter in their immediate vicinity, but they can also emit powerful jets of matter that extend beyond the galaxy they inhabit. This image was acquired in 2018 using the Global Millimetre VLBI Array (GMVA), the Atacama Large Millimetre/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), and the Greenland Telescope (GLT). These form a network of radio telescopes around the world working together in a virtual earth. These form a network of radio telescopes around the world working together in a virtual earth. Previous observations have successfully separated the region near the black hole and the jet, but this is the first time that features of both have been observed together.
"This new image completes the picture by simultaneously showing the regions around the black hole and the jet," said Jae-young Kim of Kyungpook National University in South Korea and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany.
This image was obtained by him in 2018 using the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA), the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), and the Greenland Telescope (GLT).
"To study this directly, we need to observe the origin of the jet as close as possible to the black hole," Lu said.
Most galaxies have a supermassive black hole at their centre. Understanding how black holes produce such massive jets has long been a problem in astronomy.
New images published in Nature show for the first time exactly:
How the root of the jet connects to the matter swirling around the supermassive black hole
The target is the M87 galaxy, 55 million light-years away and containing a black hole 6.5 billion times the size of the Sun. Black holes are known to devour matter in their immediate vicinity, but they can also emit powerful jets of matter that extend beyond the galaxy they inhabit.
Astronomers have discovered the first image of a powerful jet exploding from a black hole.
"We know jets are emitted from around black holes, but we still don't fully understand how that actually happens," said Lu Sen Lu of the Shanghai Observatory in China.
"To study this directly, we need to observe the origin of the jet as close as possible to the black hole," Lu said. Understanding how black holes produce such massive jets has long been a problem in astronomy.
New images published in Nature show for the first time exactly:
How is the matter swirling around a supermassive black hole connected to the root of the jet?
The target is the M87 galaxy, 55 million light-years away and containing a black hole 6.5 billion times the size of the Sun.
Previous observations have successfully separated the region near the black hole and the jet, but this is the first time that features of both have been observed together.
(MENAFN- IANS) Beijing, April 27 (IANS): For the first time, astronomers have detected an image of a powerful jet exploding from a black hole.
The observations of the black hole at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87) could help reveal how black holes can launch such energetic jets, among the brightest objects in the universe.
"We know that jets are ejected from the region surrounding black holes, but we still do not fully understand how this actually happens," said Ru-Sen Lu from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in China.
"To study this directly, we need to observe the origin of the jet as close as possible to the black hole," Lu said.
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