Most Powerful Eruption in the Universe Discovered

NASA website ^ | January 5, 2005 | Dolores Beasley, Steve Roy, Megan Watzke

[snarks_when_bored]

Most Powerful Eruption in the Universe Discovered

Astronomers have found the most powerful eruption in the universe using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. A super massive black hole generated this eruption by growing at a remarkable rate. This discovery shows the enormous appetite of large black holes, and the profound impact they have on their surroundings.

The huge eruption was seen in a Chandra image of the hot, X-ray emitting gas of a galaxy cluster called MS 0735.6+7421. Two vast cavities extend away from the super massive black hole in the cluster's central galaxy. The eruption, which has lasted for more than 100 million years, has generated energy equivalent to hundreds of millions of gamma-ray bursts.

This event was caused by gravitational energy release, as enormous amounts of matter fell toward a black hole. Most of the matter was swallowed, but some of it was violently ejected before being captured by the black hole. "I was stunned to find that a mass of about 300 million suns was swallowed," said Brian McNamara of Ohio University in Athens. "This is as large as another super massive black hole." He is lead author of the study about the discovery, which is in the January 6, 2005, issue of Nature.

Astronomers are not sure where such large amounts of matter came from. One theory is gas from the host galaxy catastrophically cooled and was swallowed by the black hole. The energy released shows the black hole in MS 0735 has grown dramatically during this eruption. Previous studies suggest other large black holes have grown very little in the recent past, and that only smaller black holes are still growing quickly.

"This new result is as surprising as it is exciting," said co-author Paul Nulsen of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass. "This black hole is feasting, when it should be fasting."

Radio emission within the cavities shows jets from the black hole erupted to create the cavities. Gas is being pushed away from the black hole at supersonic speeds over a distance of about a million light-years. The mass of the displaced gas equals about a trillion suns, more than the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way.

The rapid growth of super massive black holes is usually detected by observing very bright radiation from the centers of galaxies in the optical and X-ray wavebands, or luminous radio jets. In MS 0735 no bright central radiation is found, and the radio jets are faint. The true nature of MS 0735 is only revealed through X-ray observations of the hot cluster gas.

"Until now we had no idea this black hole was gorging itself," said co-author Michael Wise of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. "The discovery of this eruption shows X-ray telescopes are necessary to understand some of the most violent events in the universe."

The astronomers estimated how much energy was needed to create the cavities by calculating the density, temperature and pressure of the hot gas. By making a standard assumption that 10 percent of the gravitational energy goes into launching the jets, they estimated how much material the black hole swallowed.

Besides generating the cavities, some of the energy from this eruption should keep the hot gas around the black hole from cooling, and some of it may also generate large-scale magnetic fields in the galaxy cluster. Chandra observers have discovered other cavities in galaxy clusters, but this one is easily the largest and the most powerful.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Space Mission Directorate, Washington. Northrop Grumman of Redondo Beach, Calif., was the prime development contractor for the observatory. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls science and flight operations from the Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Mass.

Dolores Beasley
NASA Headquarters, Washington

Steve Roy
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.

Megan Watzke
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center, Cambridge, Mass.

[snarks_when_bored]

Sometimes it's good to be reminded of our puniness. The quantities of time, mass and distance mentioned in this article beggar the imagination. Here are the 'money quotes':

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The eruption, which has lasted for more than 100 million years, has generated energy equivalent to hundreds of millions of gamma-ray bursts.

* * * * * * *

"I was stunned to find that a mass of about 300 million suns was swallowed," said Brian McNamara of Ohio University in Athens. "This is as large as another super massive black hole."

* * * * * * *

Gas is being pushed away from the black hole at supersonic speeds over a distance of about a million light-years. The mass of the displaced gas equals about a trillion suns, more than the mass of all the stars in the Milky Way.

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Shakespeare could not have conceived that such objects might exist when he allowed his Hamlet to utter these famous lines:

There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

The super-massive black hole described in this article is beyond Horatio's (and Shakespeare's) wildest possible dream, but, for us, it's wide-awake reality.

[snarks_when_bored]

Ping

[2banana]

I still say it is Bush's fault...

[RebelBanker]

Most Powerful Eruption in the Universe Discovered

OK, who fed Michael Moore the baked beans?

[skip_intro]

Naw, it's the Israelis again.

[MineralMan]

And here it is:

[timtoews5292004]

Most Powerful Eruption in the Universe Discovered

OK, who fed Michael Moore the baked beans?


You beat me to it. I was going to say taco bell, though.

[wolfpat]

The UN is forming a team to provide aid as we speak. This eruption is a result of global warming on Earth. And it's Bush's fault.
Oh, and the Western Nations are being stingy.

[snarks_when_bored]

Thanks. I was too busy with the post (and some work) to do a search. Should have.

[razoroccam]

I thought black holes swallowed everything, including energy and gas. So how is it that this black hole is responsible for an explosion with gas streaming away from it, and with so much gamma radiation?

[Robe]

The Most Powerful Eruption in the Universe ?

Let me guess.....

Michael Moore's Flatulence !!!!

[snarks_when_bored]

It's swallowed around 300 million stars. But there are terrifically powerful, swirling magnetic field lines surrounding black holes, lines which channel highly energized gas around and away from the holes.

[DOGEY]

Was this eruption greater than those that occurred at the Clinton White House?

[MineralMan]

No problem. Some posters also don't know how to post images, so I try to grab 'em when that occurs. It's a cool photo, though. The universe is a pretty amazing place, eh?

[FreePaul]

How far away is this from us? Follow up questions. When did it happen? Is it still goin on?

[AZBear]

Ping

[ArrogantBustard]

Michael "El Cerdo" Moore ate a wafer thin mint?

[Blowtorch]

Michael Moore is in his own universe.

[UlmoLordOfWaters]

Oh,

I thought this was another Barbara Boxer thread.

She makes me so proud to be a Californian </sarcasm>

Seriously, this in interesting. I'll check it out when I have more time.

[HamiltonJay]

I am just curious here, and I am certainly not a physicist or an astronomer, but based on the very watered down suggestions of string theory... that our entire universe is on a membrane and that all we percieve is tied to that same membrane... and that Gravity is a force that is for whatever NOT tied to this membrane, and therefore is a relatively weak force in our experience compared to other forces....

Could black holes be nothing more than what may be nothing but a relatively small amount of gravitons that have for one reason or another gotten "stuck" to the membrane, or some cascading effect that causes gravitons to become stuck, exponentially increasing their influence ?

I would assume that these possibilities have been thought of by someone far more versed and smarter than I, but I am curious.