Keyword: black hole

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New doctoral research sheds new light on how quasars are formed

Quasars are extremely luminous galaxies and their light is produced by a supermassive black hole at their center, which is actively feeding on the cosmic gas and dust around it. Previous theories have suggested that quasars and their supermassive black holes are formed when galaxies collide, but a recent doctoral thesis at the University of Turku shows that quasars can form even in the absence of galaxy interactions.

NASA’s IXPE Helps Solve Black Hole Jet Mystery

24.11.2022

Some of the brightest objects in the sky are called blazars. They consist of a supermassive black hole feeding off material swirling around it in a disk, which can create two powerful jets perpendicular to the disk on each side. A blazar is especially bright because one of its jets of high-speed particles points straight at Earth. For decades, scientists have wondered: How do particles in these jets get accelerated to such high energies?

Polarized X-rays reveal shape and orientation of extremely hot matter around black hole

04.11.2022

The researchers observed the X-ray radiation from the matter around a black hole. According to the researchers the shape and orientation of the X-ray glow support the theory, that the X-rays come from the disc-shaped material flowing into the black hole which is perpendicular to previously imaged relativistic outflows of matter called jets. These findings give a better understanding about the inner workings of black holes and how they consume mass.