A small black hole in a distant galaxy “flies” like a butterfly in the accretion disk of a larger black hole, causing the large black hole to “hiccup”. (Image source: MIT website)
[Compiled by Chen Chengliang/Comprehensive Report]Black holes have always been mysterious and unpredictable, but the latest discovery by an international scientific team is shocking. For the first time, they observed that a distant supermassive black hole “burps” approximately every 8.5 days, briefly ejecting large amounts of matter and energy. What’s even more puzzling is that this “burp” actually comes from a small black hole companion that keeps passing through the accretion disk of the large black hole!
The space technology website “Space.com” reported that this “hiccup” black hole located in the core of a galaxy 848 million light-years away has a mass of up to 50 million times that of the sun. It was originally in a quiescent state until December 2020, when it was captured by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) at Ohio State University in the United States. Its brightness suddenly increased by 1,000 times. Since then, before returning to calm, the black hole has been like a big baby, mysteriously burping loudly every 8.5 days, ejecting a large amount of matter and energy.
Advertisement (Please continue reading this article)
At first, astronomers were quite confused. After all, a single star could not stop such a huge black hole from releasing energy. Until an international team including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States found the answer after in-depth research and simulation.
It turns out that this large black hole is not alone. It also has a “dancing partner” in its accretion disk: a small black hole with a mass of about 100 to 10,000 times the mass of the sun. This small black hole sometimes orbits the big black hole, and sometimes breaks through its accretion disk. Each time it passes through, it will cause a burst of chaos, forming jets and blocking some light, causing the energy of the entire galaxy to temporarily drop, acting like a black hole “burping” ”.
Researchers said that the mass difference between the two black holes is as much as 5,000 times, making it one of the most extreme binary star systems with known mass ratios. They speculate that this magical “dance partner black hole” may eventually be swallowed by a larger black hole in the next 10,000 years or so.
Advertisement (Please continue reading this article)
This breakthrough discovery not only vividly depicts the strange appearance of black holes, but also challenges scientists’ long-held understanding of accretion disks. Traditionally, an accretion disk has been viewed as a uniform disk of gas and dust surrounding a black hole. But new results show that some accretion disks may contain strange objects such as small black holes.
The relevant paper was published in the top international journal “Science Advances” on March 27, providing new clues for exploring the formation and evolution of mysterious black holes. Scientists look forward to using the European Space Agency’s “Laser Interferometer Space Antenna” in the future. (LISA) to further search for more similar “dance partner black hole” binary star systems.
Click to join the free e-newsletter LINE official account, and keep abreast of the latest news!
