Astronomers for the first time in history were photographed by a double black hole: what is known about it (photo)
A photo of a double black hole OJ287 was obtained using a radio telescope network. Two black holes rotate around a 12-year-old orbit and are about 5 billion light years from us in the center of the distant galaxy. The study is published in The Astrophysical Journal, writes Live Science. In focus. Technology has appeared its Telegram channel. Subscribe not to miss the latest and most intrusive news from the world of science! Black holes appear after massive stars die.
They grow by absorption of the surrounding gas and stars, as well as other black holes. Black holes located in the galaxies centers are millions and billions of times larger than the sun by weight. When they actively absorb the surrounding matter, a hot plasma disk is formed around them. Part of the substance falls into a black hole, and some fly into space at almost speed of light in the form of relativistic jets.
Due to the fact that the substance around the black hole emits radiation, as well as jets, these voracious space objects can be detected. In this case, the active black holes in the galaxies are sometimes created by quasars, which are active galaxies. Quasars allocate so much light that they often cover all the light of stars in the galaxy with their radiation. A pair of black holes OJ287 is just a quasar.
Previously, astronomers were directly photographed only two single black holes: Sagittarius A* in the center of the Milky Way and M87* in the center of the M87 galaxy. Now astronomers with the help of a network of radio telescopes for the first time in history have received a direct image of a double black hole. Earlier, scientists suggested that the OJ287 quasar consists of two black holes, but there was no confirmation.
A new image is also the first visual proof that pairs of black holes really exist, as theories predicted. OJ287 is a couple of black holes that rotate around a 12-year-old orbit. The smaller black hole has a mass that is about 100 million times larger than the mass of the sun. A large black hole has a mass that is about 18 billion times greater than that of our star.
Both black holes release powerful jets and thanks to their radiation, as well as a gas that glows and surrounds black holes, astronomers managed to take a direct photo of a pair of black holes. As focus has already wrote, astronomers saw a trace of 20,000 light years, which left a huge black hole that flew through the galaxy. Focus also wrote that Ilon Mask's satellites are now constantly falling from orbit. Thousands of Starlink Satellites Ilon SpaceX are in orbit.