Black hole inside merged galaxies

Black hole inside merged galaxies

Only two billion light-years separate the Earth from the epic collision of two galaxies. And in the very epicenter of what is happening, a supermassive black hole lurks, blowing up the craters of energy particles in space.

Astronomers have caught a powerful energy tide emanating from a space particle accelerator. It is powered by the interaction between the black hole and the activity of clusters of galaxies Abell 3411 and Abell 3412.

Using several telescopes, researchers traced the path of particles to a huge black hole. It exudes matter that connects to the galactic fusion, ejecting particles with even greater force. The research team compared this process to how to launch a rocket to near-earth orbit, and then send the same rocket outside our system with an additional rocket explosion.

“We have seen these fascinating phenomena in different places separately,” says the author of the study and research associate at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) Raivout van Wyren. “But this is the first time when we see such a clear connection in one system.” Now researchers know that a supermassive black hole inside the galactic array produced a magnetic funnel that generates powerful electromagnetic fields. Then they release gas from the hole into the jet.

Inside the jet itself, the particles are pushed out again, falling into shock waves coming from the cloud that emerged from the collision. “Twice accelerated” particles shine in the radio range observed in objects.

“These are the most energetic particles due to double energy injections,” said CfA research scientist Felipe Andrade-Santos. Scientists say that more examples of such particles can be found in future deep space research using radio and X-ray wavelengths.

The results were presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society on January 5. Observations were carried out using the Chandra orbital X-ray telescope, the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in India, the Very Large Antenna Lattice in New Mexico, and several other telescopes.

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