What surrounds black holes? Astronomers' answer
What surrounds black holes? Astronomers' answer

Video: What surrounds black holes? Astronomers' answer

Video: What surrounds black holes? Astronomers' answer
Video: El código Penal Y El Amor Socialista | Carlos Calvo 2024, November
Anonim

Researchers, having analyzed the "echo" of stars destroyed by black holes, were able to understand what exactly surrounds these mysterious objects.

Modern science believes that there is at least one supermassive black hole at the centers of most massive galaxies. These objects are fraught with many mysteries: American astronomers have tried to shed light on some of them.

Sjoert van Velzen and his colleagues decided to understand what exactly surrounds black holes. In this case, the dying "cry" of the star they were devouring came to the rescue. Earlier, experts found that the tearing up of a star by a supermassive black hole leads to flares not only in the X-ray and optical ranges, but also in the radio region. This led scientists to believe that there is something in the vicinity of black holes that absorbs X-rays and ultraviolet light and re-radiates them in the form of radio waves.

The researchers continued to work in this direction, trying to understand what else occurs when a star is absorbed. For this, the images sent by the WISE infrared telescope were studied. When a light is absorbed by a supermassive black hole, scientists have identified the strongest thermal radiation. Calculations have confirmed the hypothesis that it is a kind of "echo" generated by a thick sphere of dust, located around the black hole. The outer boundary of this sphere is 3 trillion kilometers away from the singularity.

The findings can be useful, in particular, for determining the amount of energy released when a star is destroyed by a black hole. Also, researchers will be able to better understand the mechanism of destruction of the star as a whole.

Supermassive black holes are black holes that have about 105–1010solar masses. It is known that such an object is located in the center of our Galaxy. Until now, science cannot say with certainty exactly how these objects are formed.

Recently, we will remind, another team of researchers was lucky enough to observe the birth of a black hole. A "dark" object appeared at the site of the death of the massive star N6946-BH1. The observation did not completely fit into the theory explaining the mechanism of the birth of black holes.

Recommended: