New Discovery Shows Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole Much More Violent in the Past
Active galaxies have cores that glow brightly, powered by supermassive black holes swallowing stars and other material, and often spit twin jets in opposite directions. In contrast, the Milky Way's center shows little activity. But apparently, according to experts at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, it wasn't always so quiet. New evidence of ghostly gamma-ray beams suggests that the Milky Way's central black hole has been much more active in the past.
The two beams, or jets, were revealed by NASA's Fermi space telescope. They extend from the galactic center to a distance of 27,000 light-years above and below the galactic plane. They are the first such gamma-ray jets ever found, and the only ones close enough to resolve with Fermi.The newfound jets may be related to mysterious gamma-ray bubbles that Fermi detected in 2010. Those bubbles also stretch 27,000 light-years from the center of the Milky Way. However, where the bubbles are perpendicular to the galactic plane, the gamma-ray jets are tilted at an angle of 15 degrees. This may reflect a tilt of the accretion disk surrounding the supermassive black hole.
"The central accretion disk can warp as it spirals in toward the black hole, under the influence of the black hole's spin," explained co-author Douglas Finkbeiner of the CfA. "The magnetic field embedded in the disk therefore accelerates the jet material along the spin axis of the black hole, which may not be aligned with the Milky Way."
The two structures also formed differently. The jets were produced when plasma squirted out from the galactic center, following a corkscrew-like magnetic field that kept it tightly focused. The gamma-ray bubbles likely were created by a "wind" of hot matter blowing outward from the black hole's accretion disk. As a result, they are much broader than the narrow jets.
Both the jets and bubbles are powered by inverse Compton scattering. In that process, electrons moving near the speed of light collide with low-energy light, such as radio or infrared photons. The collision increases the energy of the photons into the gamma-ray part of the electromagnetic spectrum.
The discovery leaves open the question of when the Milky Way was last active. A minimum age can be calculated by dividing the jet's 27,000-light-year length by its approximate speed. However, it may have persisted for much longer.
"These jets probably flickered on and off as the supermassive black hole alternately gulped and sipped material," said Finkbeiner.
It would take a tremendous influx of matter for the galactic core to fire up again. Finkbeiner estimates that a molecular cloud weighing about 10,000 times as much as the Sun would be required. "Shoving 10,000 suns into the black hole at once would do the trick. Black holes are messy eaters, so some of that material would spew out and power the jets," he said.
The image at the top of the page shows an edge-on view of the Milky Way galaxy. Newly discovered gamma-ray jets (pink) extend for 27,000 light-years above and below the galactic plane, and are tilted at an angle of 15 degrees. Previously known gamma-ray bubbles are shown in purple.
The Daily Galaxy via Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Image credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA)
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Comments
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is it possible that the black whole is not made from collapsed matter but from antimatter and the resulted gamma is the light resulted from annihilation ?
Posted by: Vasile | May 30, 2012 at 02:01 AM
Do super-massive black holes experience precession, a change of orientation of the rotational axis, analogous to the precession of the equinoxes here on planet Earth? If so on what timescale is the galactic axial wobble, and to where are the Milky Way polar jets currently aligned in the distant Universe?
Posted by: Archimedes Hamilton Goatweed | May 30, 2012 at 05:12 AM
You should mention that the image above is an artist's impression.
@Goatweed: The answer to your question can only come if we have telescopes powerful enough to detect scattered gamma rays in distant galaxies and computation power great enough to remove all artifacts from the images. Even then it would be difficult to say for certain if there is a wobble because of the timescale that they would need to be watched for. If we do though, it would speak volumes about how the galaxies form and why some are elliptical while some are spiral etc. I guess for example, if the supermasive black hole at the centre does wobble, it would give rise to a spiral galaxy, if it doesn't then it would result in an elliptical galaxy, which begs the question, if most if not all, spiral galaxies are young and elliptical ones old, did the wobbling begin at some point in cosmic time? If yes, why?
"Astronomy is a topic that two or more interested people cannot finish talking about over all the beer in the world conbined."
Posted by: Lupus | May 30, 2012 at 06:07 AM
Oh great. Interesting article.
Posted by: juegos de chicas | May 30, 2012 at 06:35 AM
The thing that would be impressive to see would be the inner almost spherical(due to the matter ejected from the poles of accretion disk) wall of Suns, Energy, and some Matter spinning at near speed of light around the Blackhole at the point before the event horizon. Imagine what the view from the Blackholes point of view looking out would be!!! A wall of fire, energy and material flying around creating a bright wall as it stays in a balancing orbit outside the Blackhole(s)...
Posted by: gogole | May 30, 2012 at 06:53 AM
nobody replied to my question ... perhaps a silly question for a scientist, but is coming from a non-scientist who is curious on how we know that the galaxy black hole is created from collapsed matter. why could not be that is made of collapsed antimatter???
When stars/planes/gas fall into a black hole they annihilate and release energy in forms of gamma rays jets, similarity with what happen in matter and antimatter interaction.
If solar systems falls into the black hole, the black hole don't become bigger and attract more rather the mass ratio galaxy / black hole stay balanced.
Besides that, the supermasive black hole mass at the center of milky way weights about 100 bill sollar masses, about the number of stars in our galaxy (give or take aproximations for the stars size planets and gass vs exact mass of the supermasive black hole) how about that, don't need asymmetry matter-antimatter, just different set of paramaters for the computer simulation on the galaxy forming ...
Posted by: Vasile | May 31, 2012 at 01:00 AM
"Do super-massive black holes experience precession, a change of orientation of the rotational axis, analogous to the precession of the equinoxes here on planet Earth? If so on what timescale is the galactic axial wobble, and to where are the Milky Way polar jets currently aligned in the distant Universe?"
Wow! Excellent question. I would LOVE to know the answer!
Posted by: Asdf | May 31, 2012 at 07:56 AM
"I guess for example, if the supermasive black hole at the centre does wobble, it would give rise to a spiral galaxy, if it doesn't then it would result in an elliptical galaxy"
Absolutely stunning hypothesis! My gut tells me you are onto something here.
Somebody could be getting a Nobel Prize for solving this.
But then scientists must first stop looking at those things residing at the centers of galaxies as "black holes" and rather start perceiving them as interdimensional portals generating matter and building their own galaxies around them seemingly out of nothing but in all truth just by downstepping higher dimensional energies coming to them.
Posted by: Asdf | May 31, 2012 at 08:00 AM
Another Look At The Universe?
Natural Selection Is Ubiquitous
Higgs Particle? Dark Energy/Matter? Epigenetics?
These Are YOK!
Update Concepts-Comprehension…
http://universe-life.com/2011/12/13/21st-century-science-whence-and-whither/
Evolution Is The Quantum Mechanics Of Natural Selection.
The quantum mechanics of every process is its evolution.
Quantum mechanics are mechanisms, possible or probable or actual mechanisms of natural selection.
=================
Universe-Energy-Mass-Life Compilation
http://universe-life.com/2012/02/03/universe-energy-mass-life-compilation/
A. The Universe
From the Big-Bang it is a rationally commonsensical conjecture that the gravitons, the smallest base primal particles of the universe, must be both mass and energy, i.e. inert mass yet in motion even at the briefest fraction of a second of the pre Big Bang singularity. This is rationally commonsensical since otherwise the Big would not have Banged, the superposition of mass and energy would not have been resolved.
The universe originates, derives and evolves from this energy-mass dualism which is possible and probable due to the small size of the gravitons.
Since gravitation Is the propensity of energy reconversion to mass and energy is mass in motion, gravity is the force exerted between mass formats.
All the matter of the universe is a progeny of the gravitons evolutions, of the natural selection of mass, of some of the mass formats attaining temporary augmented energy constraint in their successive generations, with energy drained from other mass formats, to temporarily postpone, survive, the reversion of their own constitutional mass to the pool of cosmic energy fueling the galactic clusters expansion set in motion by the Big Bang.
B. Earth Life
Earth Life is just another mass format. A self-replicating mass format. Self-replication is its mode of evolution, natural selection. Its smallest base primal units are the RNAs genes.
The genesis of RNAs genes, life’s primal organisms, is rationally commonsensical thus highly probable, the “naturally-selected” RNA nucleotides.
Life began/evolved on Earth with the natural selection of inanimate RNA, then of some RNA nucleotides, then arriving at the ultimate mode of natural selection, self-replication.
C. Know Thyself. Life Is Simpler Than We Are Told, Including Origin And Nature Of Brain And Of “Spirituality”***
The origin-reason and the purpose-fate of life are mechanistic, ethically and practically valueless. Life is the cheapest commodity on Earth.
As Life is just another mass format, due to the oneness of the universe it is commonsensical that natural selection is ubiquitous for ALL mass formats and that life, self-replication, is its extension. And it is commonsensical, too, that evolutions, broken symmetry scenarios, are ubiquitous in all processes in all disciplines and that these evolutions are the “quantum mechanics” of the processes.
Human life is just one of many nature’s routes for the natural survival of RNAs, the base primal Earth organisms.
Life’s evolution, self-replication:
Genes (organisms) to genomes (organisms) to mono-cellular to multicellular organisms:
Individual mono-cells to cooperative mono-cells communities, “cultures”.
Mono-cells cultures evolve their communication, neural systems, then further evolving nerved multicellular organisms.
Human life is just one of many nature’s routes for the natural survival of RNAs, the base Earth organism.
It is up to humans themselves to elect the purpose and format of their life as individuals and as group-members.
Dov Henis (comments from 22nd century)
***המקור והמהות של "רוחניויות", כולן וירטואליות,
הרוחניויות נובעות מהמאמינים, לסיפוק ולשימוש שלהם
An Embarrassingly Obvious Theory Of Everything
http://universe-life.com/2011/12/10/eotoe-embarrassingly-obvious-theory-of-everything/
Tags:
brain origin, gravitation, gravitons, lifeevolution, nerved organisms, RNAlifehood, spirituality, universeevolution
Posted by: Dov Henis | June 09, 2012 at 08:14 AM