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Milky Way's Monster Black Hole Data Collected By 'Legion' Of Telescopes
Space.com
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2 days ago
The image of supermassive black hole Sagittarius A * was created using data from the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration. At the same time several telescopes, including the Chandra X-ray Observatory, were doing observations of their own.
Credit: NASA/CXC/A. Hobart
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00:00
Visit Chandra's Beautiful Universe
00:05
Sagittarius A-Star
00:07
As the Event Horizon Telescope, known as the EHT,
00:14
collected data for its remarkable new image of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole,
00:19
a legion of other telescopes, including three NASA X-ray observatories in space,
00:24
was also watching.
00:26
Astronomers are using these observations to learn more about how the black hole
00:31
in the center of the Milky Way galaxy, known as Sagittarius A-Star, Sag A-Star for short,
00:38
interacts with and feeds off its environment some 27,000 light-years from Earth.
00:44
While the EHT observed Sag A-Star in April 2017 to make the new image,
00:51
scientists in the collaboration also appeared at the same black hole
00:55
with facilities that detect different wavelengths of light.
00:59
In this multi-wavelength observing campaign,
01:03
they assembled X-ray data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory,
01:07
Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope, or NUSTAR,
01:11
and the Neil Garrel Swift Observatory.
01:14
Telescopes outside of NASA involved included the East Asian Very Long Baseline Interferometer,
01:20
or VLBI, network, that observed radio emission.
01:25
There was also the global 3mm VLBI array,
01:29
along with infrared data from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile.
01:35
One important goal of this so-called multi-wavelength observing campaign
01:39
was to catch X-ray flares,
01:41
which are thought to be driven by magnetic processes similar to those seen on the Sun,
01:46
but can be tens of millions of times more powerful.
01:51
These flares occur approximately daily within the area of sky observed by the EHT,
01:57
a region slightly larger than the event horizon of Sag A-Star,
02:01
the point of no return for matter falling inward.
02:05
Another goal was to gain a critical glimpse of what is happening on larger scales.
02:10
While the EHT result shows striking similarities
02:14
between Sag A-Star and the previous black hole it imaged, M87,
02:19
the wider picture is much more complex.
02:27
Both of these goals were successfully met.
02:30
The researchers managed to catch X-ray flares, or outbursts,
02:34
from Sag A-Star during the EHT observations.
02:37
A faint one seen with Chandra in Swift,
02:40
and a moderately bright one seen with Chandra in New Star.
02:44
Astronomers have seen X-ray flares with a similar brightness to the latter with Chandra,
02:49
but this is the first time that the EHT simultaneously observed Sag A-Star.
02:55
This offers an extraordinary opportunity
02:57
to identify the responsible mechanism using actual images.
03:02
Astronomers were also able to learn more
03:05
about the wider and complex picture of accretion.
03:09
One of the biggest ongoing questions surrounding black holes
03:12
is exactly how they collect, ingest,
03:15
or even expel material orbiting them at near light speed
03:19
in a process known as accretion.
03:23
This process is fundamental to the formation and growth
03:26
of planets, stars, and black holes of all sizes
03:29
throughout the universe.
03:32
Scientists will be able to use the data being released today
03:35
to improve and hone their theoretical models
03:38
of how black holes behave and interact with their surroundings.
03:42
They will continue to study this unique combination
03:45
to learn more about Sag A-Star
03:47
and black holes throughout our universe.
03:50
publishes our models to learn more about G-P-D-K-K- datons,
03:59
they will continue to understand hugely
03:59
worth mentioning
03:59
Pem grading and matcules
04:00
nach见
04:02
and
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