'Milky-Way-Sized' Supermassive Black Hole Observed Flaring Up

 

          

 

In May of 2010  a team of astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics spotted what appeared to be a flare from a previously inactive, Milky-Way-sized supermassive black hole in a galaxy about two billion light-years away. The CfA team led an aggressive follow-up campaign of observations to see what was going on.

The team began observing the flare about 40 days after it went off and about 40 days before it peaked, providing excellent data over most of the event. Detailed modeling of the light led the team to conclude that the black hole is less massive than previously thought, only about two million solar masses, and that the object it devoured was probably an evolved star (about 5 billion years old) whose mass was about 0.2 solar masses. 

Black holes can come in a wide range of masses. Some, with only about one solar mass, result from the supernova death of a massive star, while those at the center of galaxies (called supermassive black holes) have millions or even billions of solar masses. 

Supermassive black holes are relatively famous because they are responsible for the powerful jets and other dramatic phenomena seen in some galaxies. The center of our Milky Way galaxy contains a modest-sized supermassive black hole, with about four million solar masses, and (fortunately for us) it is inactive - it lacks the extreme phenomena seen elsewhere.

Black holes are so dense that nothing, not even light, can escape from their gravitational clutches. Still, black holes can be detected because matter that falls into them heats up, and emits bright radiation. A short-lived flare, for example, can result when a body (perhaps a cloud of gas or a star) wanders too close to a black hole and is eaten. 

Astronomers are particularly interested in measuring the way the brightness of the flare increases, versus its decline, because the shape of the rising emission holds clues to the actual infall process. Observing such events is difficult, though, because the flaring activity may only last for a few months -- by the time it is spotted in the sky the most diagnostic phases of flare activity may have passed.

Moreover, flares from smaller supermassive black holes (like the one in the center of the Milly Way) may be correspondingly weaker.

Pan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System) is a telescope with a small mirror (1.8 meters) but a very large field of view, and large digital cameras (1.4 billion pixels) developed especially to look for transient events. It can observe the entire available sky several times a month. 
These new results provide a particularly impressive, detailed view of what goes on in these exotic cosmic flares, and offer support for the overall model of these flaring events.

The optical-IR image below shows the galaxy that suddenly brightened when the supermassive black hole at its center shredded and absorbed a star that wandered too close. 

The rapid X-ray flare shown in image at the top of the page was observed from the direction of the supermassive black hole that resides at the center of our galaxy. This violent flare, captured by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, has given astronomers an unprecedented view of the energetic processes surrounding this supermassive black hole.

A team of scientists led by Frederick K. Baganoff of MIT detected a sudden X-ray flare while observing Sagittarius A*, a source of radio emission believed to be associated with the black hole at the center of our galaxy.

"This is extremely exciting because it's the first time we have seen our own neighborhood supermassive black hole devour a chunk of material," said Frederick K. Baganoff of MIT . "This signal comes from closer to the event horizon of our galaxy's supermassive black hole than any that we have ever received before. It's as if the material there sent us a postcard before it fell in."

"It almost certainly came from the suspected supermassive black hole there, known as Sagittarius A*," said Fulvio Melia of the University of Arizona. Melia, who is in Washington for the "Two Years of Science with Chandra" symposium, was contacted by e-mail.

"What is so exciting about this is that its properties require an active region no bigger than about 20 times the size of the event horizon predicted by general relativity," Melia said.

The findings validate research that Melia and his colleagues have done over the past decade, particularly on the size and radiative characteristics of Sagittarius A*.

 

             

The Daily Galaxy via Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Nature.com

Image Credit: NASA; Gezari, Rest, and Chornock

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Comments

[smartypants]

Is it just me or does "'Milky-Way-Sized' Supermassive Black Hole Observed" make it sound like the super massive black hole was the size of the milky way and not size of the super massive black hole in the center of the milky way?? Maybe i am just tired??

[George Botha]

No it is not just you. Interesting question is if it would be possible for Milky-Way-Sized Hypermassive Black Holes to exist, and if not, why not. Maybe the so-called "primordial black hole" was such a thing or even many orders of magnitude more massive. And if space is infinite, then who-knows, there could be some out there beyond our local universe?

[Ivar Nielsen]

BLACK HOLES ARE JUST FORMATIVE SWIRLS.

When one read of this “supermassive black hole observed flaring up”, it doesn’t give any logical sense when thinking of the scientific interpretation of such a hole that supposedly sucks everything in via gravity, even light, and away forever into a singularity – that doesn´t exist besides in the minds of very speculative scientists.

Every time one reads of the term "black holes" one just has to translate this term to “formative swirls in a funnel” – then it all makes much more sense.

These cosmic formative swirls with formative funnels folding in and out, can be observed everywhere as the most universal principle of formation.

- In Norse Mythology, the creation takes place when moist and cold meets hot and dry air, just like a weather system creating a hurricane. This meeting creates a swirl with a funnel and the swirling system ionizes the system and this creates magnetic fields and lightnings in the hurricane.

The pressure in the hurricane can either suck in air and material from the bottom, or press down air for above the top or down in the funnel. It is the very same system as in the formative process in the centre of a galaxy or elsewhere where a swirling funnel is observed.

The galactic circuit takes form in a 3D cell-like spherical formation where stars and planets etc., are moved via the cosmic thermodynamically weather system, one the one hand into the funnel and further on to the centre of the galaxy. Here everything is dissolved (hence the observed flares in this article) and via nuclear processes gasses and particles are sorted out and heated up until melting point.

After this processes, larger spheres of gas and particles, (and also in all kind of mixed spheres) are on the way out from the funnel and away from the galactic centre, cooling of as coming stars and planets of all kind, slowly wandering out from the galactic centre and further out in the galactic arms.

This is the basically formative circuit processes in galaxies. Things goes inwards and outwards in this process, and this explanation can be verified by the galactic rotation anomaly as the most logical explanation of all. It is very logical that these stars and planets all are given the same orbital speed given from the same rotational momentum in the swirl.

When looking at the formative processes in galaxies as above with circuits, the need for implementing “dark matter” in galaxies and other where in cosmos is not needed. And if one imagine al movements in the Universe as this kind of circuits, the need of all kind of other black forces also is unnecessary.

It all is just a question of a change of perspective away from the linear “BB-idea” to the circular idea of eternal changes in swirling circuits.

Ivar Nielsen
Natural Philosopher

[Ivar Nielsen]

NB: "BLACK HOLES ARE JUST FORMATIVE SWIRLS"

And of course: When changing to the cosmic circuit perspective, the "gravity theory" must be revised seriously too. When everything moves in circuits as described above, gravity is out of order on the cosmic scale and most likely it also has to be substituted by other forces working on the earthly level and solar system level.

[George Botha]

By "BB-idea" do you mean "black box idea" or "big bang idea" or both?

[Ivar Nielsen]

@George Botha,
I mean of course the Big Bang idea and the linear time-scale instead of the eternal cyclical formation. ;-)

[Ruth Mc]

smartypants, no its definitely not just you. The title is misleading, and makes it sound as if the BH is the size of the galaxy. Hmm. Call me daft, but I'd previously been under the impression that black holes, whether just one or billions of solar masses, were tiny things. Singularities of infinite density but zero volume.

[George Botha]

Ruth Mc, I was actually thinking of the size of a black hole in terms of its Schwarzchild radius. Pardon me for not mentioning this. What goes on inside the Scharzchild radius is something we can only theorize about. Whether the density is indeed infinite we do not yet know for certain, regardless of current scientific opinion.

Ivar Nielsen, I have always intuitively believed that the universe has always existed and will always exist. Also that it is infinite outward into macro space as well as inward into micro space. This may sound like a kid who wants to eat all the ice-cream at a party, but really, I cannot see any other way that makes any sense at all.

The hard part just comes with reconciling the finity of our material body and immediate surroundings with the infinity in which it resides. The Big Bang, if it existed at all, must therefore have been a relatively local phenomenon, like the birth of a child into society.

[smartypants]

I would have to agree with George Botha on what would be the size of the black hole BUT I have always thought it would get bigger with more crushed filling inside it = more mass for gravity. Infinite inward to micro-space sounds new to me. Definitely worth thinking about. Thanks George!

Ivar Nielsen always has interesting input. I cant say its right or wrong so I kind of stick with "possible". I do like his idea of all of the milky way being created at the "not a black hole" in the center.

Also I need to add that I am just not convinced that every galaxy has a super massive black hole in the center. Or ANY galaxys for that matter. It has always felt as "the easy answer" to the question "What could it be in the center?". Im not saying they dont exist, just I have never seen one or any thing to call proof of one other than people saying thats what it has to be. The part where material "somehow" swirls to the poles of some to create jets really sounds reaching unless inside the Schwarzchild radius every thing was spinning as in revolutions per second circular and the material inside was moving from the center to the equator and then to the poles and then to the center again and most of the "new material" was bounced out instead of falling in. I do wonder if the material inside would be stripped back down to hydrogen also? Or become something completely new to us?
Hahahaha, some times I just cant shut up.

[Ivar Nielsen]

George Botha, you wrote:

GB: “I have always intuitively believed that the universe has always existed and will always exist. Also that it is infinite outward into macro space as well as inward into micro space”

AD: Agreed. And this is what we all can observe from nature and celestial movements.
GB: “The Big Bang, if it existed at all, must therefore have been a relatively local phenomenon, like the birth of a child into society”.

AD: Imaging your sitting inside a 3D-cell spherical orb with a quadrupole magnetic field and swirling gasses and matter and stars and planets going in and out in this spherical orb:

You would observe gasses and matter floating in all directions away from you and towards you and floating in different velocities, going in and out in this cell, formatting and dissolving everything.

In my opinion, this is what scientists really observe in our local part of the universe. And if this principle is correct, it takes place all over.

- Apropos the birth of a child: Astrophysicists and cosmologists really could and can learn everything about the universal formative principles by study a sperm fertilizing an egg-cell.

Allegorically, the sperm represents light and the cell represents matter. When light hits matter it ionizes the matter and fluids, induces magnetic fields in the molecules and fluids. This begins the process of mixing and dividing the chromosomes and when the magnetic field swift direction in a 90 degree turn, the division of the cell begins. (Search “cell division” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_division and many other links).

The very same explanation can be found in most of the mythical/religious Stories of Creation:

In the beginning there was nothing created as we see it, but all the basic elements were in rest. Then light hit the resting elements and set fluids and particles in motion, and here we go.

The term “beginning” shall of course not be taken literary, but just taken as a telling technique of how everything is principally created. There is no beginning and no end, just eternal formative and changing processes.

In my opinion the very same principles takes place all over in the Universe.

[Ivar Nielsen]

@smartypants,

SP: "The part where material "somehow" swirls to the poles of some to create jets really sounds reaching unless inside the Schwarzchild radius every thing was spinning as in revolutions per second circular and the material inside was moving from the center to the equator and then to the poles and then to the center again and most of the "new material" was bounced out instead of falling in",

AD: I recognized most of your thoughts above in my explanation about the sperm/egg-cell explanation to George Botha.

- In my opinion, our solar system is created in the Milky Way centre and on its way out in the galactic surroundings, moving further around in the galactic circuit.

This explanation of the formational process in our galaxy, confirms the “galactic rotation anomaly”, where all objects in the MW are orbiting the centre with the same orbiting momentum, originally given from the swirling centre.

BTW: Galaxies aren´t just galaxies, but galaxies in different stages of formation. Some galaxies with a very luminous nucleus and with very tight arms are observed in a stage where a strong inwards turning motion takes place, calling this a “young galaxy”, whereas a galaxy with a less luminous centre and with more spread arms and with a barred structure, are observed in an outgoing motion, just like in our Milky Way galaxy, which is called a ”mature galaxy”.

[Ivar Nielsen]

Regarding the circuit motion in galaxies, read also:

“Rogue stars ejected from the galaxy” - http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2012/04/rogue-stars-intergalactic-space/ -

- where scientists misjudge the galactic motion (again, as with the galactic rotation problem) – and even suggest that the Milky Way black hole (that otherwise sucks everything in and away) is the centrifugal cause of the rejected stars.

If looking at the galactic motion as a spherical circuit, stars of course also are slung out from the galactic centre as well as going inwards to the centre.

It is the linear Big Bang idea and the non dynamic “gravity ghost theory” and “heavy black holes” that gives scientists constantly and repeatedly problems that really don’t exist in the obviously circuit universe.

[big bango]

my new theory is that ivar is actually gene ray

[Ivar Nielsen]

@big bango,
Never heard of this "gene ray" before, and when googling him, I don´t need to get to know him either. My point of universal ideas are 3D-Cell in- and outfolding spherical movements as described above as and not cubical.