The strange light is estimated to emit more light than a quadrillion suns, and ironically comes from one of the darkest objects possible.
The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) is an observatory that observes large areas of the sky simultaneously, tracking transient phenomena: pulsating lights such as supernovae or moving objects such as comets. In February of this year, an unusual phenomenon was recorded when an incredibly bright point of light flashed in an area where there was nothing the day before. Astronomers have roughly calculated that it is brighter than a quadrillion suns.
Over the next few days, telescopes around the world focused on this light, studying it in X-ray, ultraviolet, optical and radio wavelengths to find out what could be emitting so much energy. And in a new study that was published in the journal Nature astronomyscientists report the most likely candidate.
The signal, known as AT 2022cmc, appears to come from a black hole about 8.5 billion light-years away. In what’s known as a Tidal Disruption Event (TDE), this supermassive monster engulfed an unfortunate star that got too close, discarding some of its matter to form a flash of light. Although TDEs have been observed many times in the past, this is the brightest and most distant TDE ever discovered.
Astronomers believe that some TDEs can form relativistic jets: matter from a dying star is launched in powerful beams and accelerates to 99.99% of the speed of light. When these jets hit the Earth directly, they can appear much brighter than usual. This is due to the Doppler effect, where wavelengths of light converge as they get closer to the viewer.
According to scientists, even this is not enough to explain the extent of this unprecedented brightness. The black hole must be the epicenter of the overnutrition frenzy.
“Probably, the star absorbs half the mass of the Sun per year. Many of these tidal disruptions occur early, and we were able to capture this event very early, within a week of the black hole starting feeding on the star,” said Dheeraj Pasham, co-author of the study.
The team says it is expected that more TDEs will be observed in the future as more powerful telescopes start surveying the sky with more regularity.
Cursor wrote it earlier Scientists have transformed a black hole’s light echo into sound. Thanks to the discovery, you can “hear” the sound of a black hole.
Cursor also reported it astronomers have created an interactive map of the universe. Scientists have combined 20 years of data collected by the Apache Point Telescope to create a map that stretches from our galaxy to the edge of the visible universe.
Our editors wrote it confirmed the general theory of relativity on a galactic scale.
