Atronomers from Breakthrough Listen have used the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Green Bank Telescope (NSF GBT) to carry out one of the most sensitive pulsar searches ever aimed at the Milky Way’s Galactic Center.
Recent News
New Event Horizon Telescope Results Trace M87 Jet Back to Its Black Hole
A new study connects the black hole’s famous ring of light to a compact region that marks the likely base of the jet, bringing scientists closer to understanding how black holes power some of the brightest beacons in the universe.
Magnetic Superhighways Discovered in a Starburst Galaxy’s Winds
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international team of astronomers has mapped a magnetic highway driving a powerful galactic wind into the nearby galaxy merger of Arp 220, revealing for the first time that its fast, molecular outflows are strongly magnetized and likely helping to drive metals, dust, and cosmic rays into the space around the galaxy.
Spotted: ‘Death Star’ Black Holes in Action
Abell 478 and NGC 5044 (Labeled)
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Bologna/F. Ubertosi; Insets Radio: NSF/AUI/NRAO/VLBA; Wide field Image: Optical/IR: Univ. of Hawaii/Pan-STARRS; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk
Huge black holes are firing powerful beams of particles into space — and then changing their aim to fire at new targets. This discovery, made using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (NRAO) Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), shows what kind of widespread impact black holes can have on their surrounding galaxy and beyond.
A team of astronomers looked at 16 supermassive black holes in galaxies surrounded by hot gas detected in X-rays by Chandra. Using radio data from the VLBA, operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, they studied the directions of beams — also known as jets — of particles fired a few light-years away from the black holes. This gives the scientists a picture of where each beam is currently pointed, as seen from Earth. Each black hole fires two beams in opposite directions.
The team then used Chandra data to study pairs of cavities, or bubbles, in the hot gas that were created in the past by the beams pushing gas outwards. The locations of large outer cavities indicate the direction those beams pointed millions of years earlier. The researchers then compared the directions of the radio beams with the directions of the pairs of cavities. Read the full release.
This news article was originally published on the NRAO website on May 22, 2024.
Recent News
Breakthrough Listen, NSF Green Bank Telescope Probe Galactic Heart for Hidden Pulsars
Atronomers from Breakthrough Listen have used the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Green Bank Telescope (NSF GBT) to carry out one of the most sensitive pulsar searches ever aimed at the Milky Way’s Galactic Center.
New Event Horizon Telescope Results Trace M87 Jet Back to Its Black Hole
A new study connects the black hole’s famous ring of light to a compact region that marks the likely base of the jet, bringing scientists closer to understanding how black holes power some of the brightest beacons in the universe.
Magnetic Superhighways Discovered in a Starburst Galaxy’s Winds
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international team of astronomers has mapped a magnetic highway driving a powerful galactic wind into the nearby galaxy merger of Arp 220, revealing for the first time that its fast, molecular outflows are strongly magnetized and likely helping to drive metals, dust, and cosmic rays into the space around the galaxy.