Best-Ever Radio Image of Black Hole Jets

By Nancy Atkinson - May 20, 2011 at 8:40 PM UTC | Black Holes
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A new image taken by an array of radio telescopes is the best resolution view ever of particle jets erupting from a supermassive black hole in a nearby galaxy. An international team of astronomers targeted Centaurus A (Cen A), and the image shows a region less than 4.2 light-years across -- less than the distance between our sun and the nearest star. Radio-emitting features as small as 15 light-days can be seen, making this the most detailed image yet of black hole jets.

"These jets arise as infalling matter approaches the black hole, but we don't yet know the details of how they form and maintain themselves," said Cornelia Mueller, the study's lead author and a doctoral student at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany.

The data was gathered by the TANAMI project (Tracking Active Galactic Nuclei with Austral Milliarcsecond Interferometry), an intercontinental array of nine radio telescopes.

While not completely understood, black hole particle jets typically escape the confines of their host galaxies and flow for hundreds of thousands of light years. They are somewhat a paradox, because while black holes are known for pulling matter in, they also produce these jets which accelerate matter at near light speed.

They are a primary means of redistributing matter and energy in the universe, and understanding them will be key to understanding galaxy formation and other cosmic mysteries such as the origin of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays.

While the black hole is invisible, the jets are seen in great detail in the new image. Cen A is located about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Centaurus and is one of the first celestial radio sources identified with a galaxy.

Seen in radio waves, Cen A is one of the biggest and brightest objects in the sky, nearly 20 times the apparent size of a full moon. This is because the visible galaxy lies nestled between a pair of giant radio-emitting lobes, each nearly a million light-years long.

[caption id="attachment_85843" align="aligncenter" width="550" caption="Merging X-ray data (blue) from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory with microwave (orange) and visible images reveals the jets and radio-emitting lobes emanating from Centaurus A's central black hole. Credit: ESO/WFI (visible); MPIfR/ESO/APEX/A.Weiss et al. (microwave); NASA/CXC/CfA/R.Kraft et al. (X-ray) "]

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These lobes are filled with matter streaming from particle jets near the galaxy's central black hole. Astronomers estimate that matter near the base of these jets races outward at about one-third the speed of light.

The new study will appear in the June issue of

Astronomy and Astrophysics

and is available online.

Source:

NASA

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com