×
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Bengaluru scientists aid in detecting flare from black hole

Researchers captured this flare using the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) 1.3 m J C Bhattacharya telescope (JCBT) at Kavalur, Tamil Nadu
Last Updated 11 November 2021, 02:21 IST

A nucleus of a galaxy which scientists have long believed is a supermassive black hole, has emitted a bright flare which could help astronomers unravel the mysteries of how galaxies merged in the early universe.

The event was spotted after a group of astronomers from around the world, including Bengaluru, studied a so-called “blazar” for 76 nights at a stretch before they spotted its brightest flare.

A blazar is a class of active galactic nuclei, among the most luminous sources in the universe. Such galaxies emit jets. A blazar is one which happens to be oriented so that its jets point toward Earth as though we are staring down the barrel of the gun, according to Dr Aditi Agarwal, a postdoctoral fellow at Raman Research Institute (RRI), and a member of a 14-member group of scientists from around the world who studied the event.

This blazar, called PG 1553+113, has been a primary candidate for a binary supermassive black hole system that has intrigued scientists because of its repetitive, quasi-periodic gamma-ray emissions.

“Whenever two galaxies have supermassive black holes at their centres, the formation of a binary supermassive black hole is inevitable,” Dr Agarwal said.

Binary black holes are of great scientific interest because they are a potential source of gravitational waves which are ripples in space-time caused by cataclysmic events such as colliding black holes and supernovae. So, detecting and analysing information carried by gravitational waves gives scientists a way to observe the universe in a way never before possible.

Researchers captured this flare using the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) 1.3 m J C Bhattacharya telescope (JCBT) at Kavalur, Tamil Nadu. “Notably, this is the brightest flare captured so far in the historical record, and it happened to have been done using an Indian telescope,” Dr Agarwal said. The research was published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Check out latest DH videos here

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 10 November 2021, 18:47 IST)

Follow us on

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT