Some black holes are enormous, with masses countless times higher than our sun, releasing enormous amounts of energy. These are referred to as supermassive great voids and exactly how they are formed or gain enough fuel to power themselves is still a secret.
Astrophysicist and lead scientist from the University of Southampton, Dr. Sandra Raimundo, remarks: “Supermassive black holes sustain their activity by, in part, the gradual accumulation of gas from the environment around them. Supermassive black holes can make the centers of galaxies shine very brilliantly when they catch gas and its thought this procedure can be a major impact en route that galaxies look today. How SMBHs get enough fuel to sustain their activity and growth still puzzles astronomers, however the work we have performed offers an action towards comprehending this.”
The Southampton scientist, dealing with researchers at the universities of Copenhagen and California, used data from the 4-meter Anglo-Australian telescope in New South Wales, Australia * to study the orbits of gas and stars in a large sample of more than 3000 galaxies. They recognized those with the existence of what is referred to as misaligned gas– in other words, gas which turns in a different instructions from the stars in the galaxy, signaling a past galaxy interaction. They then found that galaxies with misaligned gas had a greater fraction of active supermassive great voids.
The outcomes revealed a clear link between misaligned gas and supermassive black hole activity– suggesting the gas is transferred where 2 galaxies meet, meanders large distances through space, and after that catches the big gravitational forces of the supermassive great void– pulled in and engulfed as an essential source of fuel. Astronomers have actually long thought that a merger with another galaxy could provide this source of gas, but direct evidence for this has actually been elusive.
Dr. Raimundo describes: “The work that we carried out shows the existence of gas that is misaligned from stars is connected with a boost in the fraction of active supermassive great voids. Because misaligned gas is a clear sign of a previous interaction in between two galaxies, our work reveals that galaxy interactions offer fuel to power active supermassive black holes.
” This is the very first time that a direct connection has been observed between the development and presence of misaligned gas and the fuelling of active supermassive black holes.”
Dr. Marianne Vestergaard, a co-author in the research study, highlights: “What is amazing about these observations is that we can now, for the really first time, determine the recorded gas and trace it all the method to the center where the black hole is devouring it.”
The scientists now intend to extend their research and use their findings to calculate just how much of the total mass of supermassive great voids grew from this system and how crucial this was in the early Universe.
Referral: “A boost in great void activity in galaxies with kinematically misaligned gas” by Sandra I. Raimundo, Matthew Malkan and Marianne Vestergaard, 19 January 2023, Nature Astronomy.DOI: 10.1038/ s41550-022-01880-z.
Supermassive black holes can make the centers of galaxies shine very brilliantly when they catch gas and its thought this procedure can be a major influence on the way that galaxies look today. The Southampton researcher, working with researchers at the universities of Copenhagen and California, utilized information from the 4-meter Anglo-Australian telescope in New South Wales, Australia * to study the orbits of gas and stars in a large sample of more than 3000 galaxies. They recognized those with the presence of what is known as misaligned gas– in other words, gas which turns in a different direction from the stars in the galaxy, indicating a previous galaxy interaction. They then found that galaxies with misaligned gas had a greater fraction of active supermassive black holes.
Two communicating galaxies seen from the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team
A research study carried out by the University of Southampton has actually revealed the process by which supermassive great voids (SMBHs) take in gas clouds that reach them by taking a trip numerous thousands of light years, from one galaxy to another.
A global group of researchers has actually established a vital connection between the interaction of neighboring galaxies and the enormous quantities of gas needed to sustain these gigantic and ultra-dense area phenomena. Their findings were recently released in the journal Nature Astronomy.
A great void can be produced when a star collapses, squeezing matter into a relatively small area. This increases the force of gravity to a point where nothing can escape, not even light– for this reason the name.
