The story about the growth of a cosmic monster black hole which quickly became very massive, has long been a puzzle for astronomers.
A spray ejected by a growing supermassive black hole with an outflow around it. Credit: NAOJ.
Meet, VERA! A network of advanced radio telescopes in Japan operated by NAOJ. And recently, astronomers received the gift of an important clue to this puzzle from the powerful VERA.
Observation results have shown that there are active galaxies in the center supermassive black hole. Its mass can be millions to billions of solar masses. According to astronomers, young black holes can grow into very powerful quasars. But how these black holes grow is still a mystery.
To understand this, an international team of astronomers studied active galaxies grouped into the narrow-line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies. These galaxies are thought to have some growing black holes so astronomers can study the early years of these cosmic monsters. For this reason, a team of astronomers observed the centers of 6 NLS1 galaxies with the VERA telescope. And as a result, they detected the polarization of radio waves coming from the center of the galaxy.
Some radio waves emitted near supermassive black holes are known to produce polarization. As these polarized radio beams propagate through the magnetized gas around the black hole, the polarization plane will gradually rotate and produce a Faraday rotation effect. Astronomers can study the environment around the center of the black hole from the polarization and Faraday rotation effects.
As a result, astronomers found indications of the existence of large amounts of gas around the center of galaxies that facilitate the growth of supermassive black holes. Much like a young child with a voracious appetite as it grows, this black hole monster is also devouring gas to grow faster and stronger.
Cool facts:
Did you know that VERA’s eyes are 100 thousand times sharper than human eyes?
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2023-09-29 00:02:53
#Secret #Growth #Cosmic #Monsters
