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Milky Way’s black hole shows signs of increased chatter
Scientists are trying to learn whether this is normal behavior that was unnoticed due to limited monitoring or these flares are triggered by the recent close passage of a mysterious dusty object.
By Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama | Published: Wednesday, September 23, 2015
RELATED TOPICS: BLACK HOLES | SAGITTARIUS A* | MILKY WAY
Sagittarius A*
A long monitoring campaign of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole has revealed some unusual activity. Typically relatively quiet, the black hole (called Sagittarius A*) had an increase in X-ray flares in mid-2014. The timing of this surge coincided with the close passage of the mysterious G2 object near the black hole. Astronomers will continue to observe the black hole to ascertain the true nature of the increased X-ray activity.
NASA/CXC/MPE/G.Ponti et al; Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss
Three orbiting X-ray space telescopes have detected an increased rate of X-ray flares from the usually quiet giant black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy after new long-term monitoring. Scientists are trying to learn whether this is normal behavior that was unnoticed due to limited monitoring or these flares are triggered by the recent close passage of a mysterious dusty object.
By combining information from long monitoring campaigns by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton, with observations by the Swift satellite, astronomers were able to carefully trace the activity of the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole over the last 15 years. The supermassive black hole — Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) — weighs in at slightly more than 4 million times the mass of the Sun. X-rays are produced by hot gas flowing toward the black hole.
The new study reveals that Sgr A* has been producing one bright X-ray flare about every 10 days. However, within the past year, there has been a ten-fold increase in the rate of bright flares from Sgr A*, at about one every day. This increase happened soon after the close approach to Sgr A* by a mysterious object called G2.
“For several years, we’ve been tracking the X-ray emission from Sgr A*. This includes also the close passage of this dusty object” said Gabriele Ponti of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany. “A year or so ago, we thought it had absolutely no effect on Sgr A*, but our new data raise the possibility that that might not be the case.”
Originally, astronomers thought G2 was an extended cloud of gas and dust. However, after passing close to Sgr A* in late 2013, its appearance did not change much, apart from being slightly stretched by the gravity of the black hole. This led to new theories that G2 was not simply a gas cloud, but instead a star swathed in an extended dusty cocoon.
“There isn’t universal agreement on what G2 is,” said Mark Morris of the University of California in Los Angeles. “However, the fact that Sgr A* became more active not long after G2 passed by suggests that the matter coming off of G2 might have caused an increase in the black hole’s feeding rate.”
While the timing of G2’s passage with the surge in X-rays from Sgr A* is intriguing, astronomers see other black holes that seem to behave like Sgr A*. Therefore, it’s possible this increased chatter from Sgr A* may be a common trait among black holes and unrelated to G2. For example, the increased X-ray activity could be due to a change in the strength of winds from nearby massive stars that are feeding material to the black hole.
“It’s too soon to say for sure, but we will be keeping X-ray eyes on Sgr A* in the coming months,” said Barbara De Marco of Max Planck. “Hopefully, new observations will tell us whether G2 is responsible for the changed behavior or if the new flaring is just part of how the black hole behaves.”
หน้าแรก/ข่าว/มิลค์ของหลุมดำแสดงสัญญาณเรื่องไร้สาระเพิ่มขึ้นส่งไปที่ reddit18Share ในการพิมพ์หลุมดำของทางช้างเผือกแสดงสัญญาณเรื่องไร้สาระเพิ่มขึ้นนักวิทยาศาสตร์กำลังพยายามเรียนรู้ว่า นี้เป็นพฤติกรรมปกติที่ถูกส่งจากการตรวจสอบจำกัด หรือ flares เหล่านี้จะถูกทริกเกอร์ โดยเส้นทางปิดล่าสุดของมารฝุ่นโดยหอดูดาวจันทรา เคมบริดจ์ แมสซาชูเซตส์ ศูนย์การบินอวกาศมาร์แชล ฮันต์สวิลล์ อลาบามา | ประกาศ: วันพุธ 23 กันยายน 2015หัวข้อที่เกี่ยวข้อง: หลุมดำ | ราศีธนู A * | ทางน้ำนมราศีธนู A *ส่งเสริมการขายจึงตรวจสอบของหลุมดำมวลยวดยิ่งของมิลค์ได้เปิดเผยกิจกรรมบางอย่างผิดปกติ โดยทั่วไปค่อนข้างเงียบ หลุมดำ (เรียกว่าธนู A *) ได้เพิ่มในเอ็กซ์เรย์ flares ในกลางปี 2557 จังหวะเวลาของกระแสนี้ร่วมกับกาลปิดวัตถุ G2 ลึกลับใกล้หลุมดำ นักดาราศาสตร์ยังคงสังเกตหลุมดำเพื่อตรวจลักษณะจริงของกิจกรรมการเอ็กซ์เรย์เพิ่มขึ้นNASA/CXC/MPE/G.Ponti et al ภาพประกอบ: NASA/CXC/M.Weissสามโคจรเอกซเรย์พื้นที่ telescopes ได้ตรวจพบอัตราการเพิ่มขึ้นของ flares เอกซเรย์จากหลุมดำยักษ์มักจะเงียบที่ศูนย์กลางของกาแล็กซี่ทางช้างเผือกของเราหลังจากการตรวจสอบระยะยาวใหม่ นักวิทยาศาสตร์กำลังพยายามเรียนรู้ว่า นี้เป็นพฤติกรรมปกติที่ถูกส่งจากการตรวจสอบจำกัด หรือ flares เหล่านี้จะถูกทริกเกอร์ โดยเส้นทางปิดล่าสุดของมารฝุ่นBy combining information from long monitoring campaigns by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton, with observations by the Swift satellite, astronomers were able to carefully trace the activity of the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole over the last 15 years. The supermassive black hole — Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) — weighs in at slightly more than 4 million times the mass of the Sun. X-rays are produced by hot gas flowing toward the black hole.The new study reveals that Sgr A* has been producing one bright X-ray flare about every 10 days. However, within the past year, there has been a ten-fold increase in the rate of bright flares from Sgr A*, at about one every day. This increase happened soon after the close approach to Sgr A* by a mysterious object called G2.“For several years, we’ve been tracking the X-ray emission from Sgr A*. This includes also the close passage of this dusty object” said Gabriele Ponti of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany. “A year or so ago, we thought it had absolutely no effect on Sgr A*, but our new data raise the possibility that that might not be the case.”Originally, astronomers thought G2 was an extended cloud of gas and dust. However, after passing close to Sgr A* in late 2013, its appearance did not change much, apart from being slightly stretched by the gravity of the black hole. This led to new theories that G2 was not simply a gas cloud, but instead a star swathed in an extended dusty cocoon.
“There isn’t universal agreement on what G2 is,” said Mark Morris of the University of California in Los Angeles. “However, the fact that Sgr A* became more active not long after G2 passed by suggests that the matter coming off of G2 might have caused an increase in the black hole’s feeding rate.”
While the timing of G2’s passage with the surge in X-rays from Sgr A* is intriguing, astronomers see other black holes that seem to behave like Sgr A*. Therefore, it’s possible this increased chatter from Sgr A* may be a common trait among black holes and unrelated to G2. For example, the increased X-ray activity could be due to a change in the strength of winds from nearby massive stars that are feeding material to the black hole.
“It’s too soon to say for sure, but we will be keeping X-ray eyes on Sgr A* in the coming months,” said Barbara De Marco of Max Planck. “Hopefully, new observations will tell us whether G2 is responsible for the changed behavior or if the new flaring is just part of how the black hole behaves.”
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