A star being squeezed like a toothpaste tube' by a supermassive black hole generated a mysteriously brilliant flash that emitted more light than 1,000 TRILLION suns, according to research.
According
to research, a mysteriously brilliant light in the sky was created by a
supermassive black hole "squeezing like a toothpaste tube" a faraway
star.
When
astronomers at the Zwicky Transient Facility in California discovered a flash
in February that produced more light than a trillion suns, they were perplexed.
A tidal
disruption event (TDE), in which a star travels a bit too near to a black hole
and is torn apart by its gravitational pull, is now the cause of the light, according
to the research team.
It is the
brightest TDE ever seen from Earth and is being termed one of the most violent
occurrences in the cosmos, with temperatures exceeding 54,000°F (30,000°C).
The event,
AT2022cmc, was the furthest TDE ever discovered and took place more than eight
billion light-years distant, or more than halfway across the universe.
Its data
collection might provide fresh insight into the growth and nutrient
requirements of supermassive black holes.
A
"jetted TDE," or flash of light, was initially seen during a regular
all-sky scan and was later determined to be the source of the flash.
After the
star was obliterated, a stream of stuff that extended along the black hole's
axis of spin shot out of it at a speed that was almost as fast as light.
The X-ray
energy that was released by this was absorbed by the black hole's surrounding
dust and then reemitted as infrared radiation, radio waves, and visible light.
Despite
being so far away from us, the jet's remarkable brightness and orientation
towards Earth enabled equipment all across the globe to catch it in incredible
detail.
These
included the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile
and the Liverpool Telescope in Spain.
We have
only seen a small number of these jetted-TDEs, and they continue to be highly
exotic and poorly understood phenomena, according to Nial Tanvir from the
University of Leicester, who worked on the research.
After the
star was obliterated, a stream of stuff that extended along the black hole's
axis of spin shot out of it at a speed that was almost as fast as light. This
produced X-ray radiation, which was absorbed by the black hole's surrounding
dust and then released again as infrared radiation, radio waves, and visible
light.
A
co-author from Liverpool John Moores University, Dr. Daniel Perley, called
AT2022cmc a sort of TDE that was "exceptional" and "didn't
appear to fit any known type of heavenly source." The majority of
explosions are either considerably quicker, much slower, or much bluer in color
than the statistics would suggest, he said.
The star
is often torn apart by strong gravitational forces, becoming a superheated disk
of gas that finally vanishes into the black hole. However, in this instance,
something occurred that expelled matter back into space nearly as quickly as
light.
We compare
it to a toothpaste tube that has been unexpectedly squeezed in the center,
causing the toothpaste to spew out of both ends. The powerful optical, radio,
and X-ray emission is then created when the material interacts with the
surrounding atmosphere.
According
to co-author and MIT astronomer Dr. Dheeraj Pasham, the study team was able to
"capture this event right at the beginning, within one week of the black
hole commencing to feed on the star." Additionally, it was the first time
an optically detectable jetting TDE has been made.
"Until
now, the few jetted-TDEs that are known were originally spotted using high
energy gamma-ray and X-ray observatories," Dr. Perley said.
When
AT2022cmc was first discovered, scientists used the Interior Composition
ExploreR (NICER), an X-ray telescope on the International Space Station, to
examine it.
They
discovered that the radiation's source was 100 times more potent than the
strongest ones ever identified.
As
brilliant as they are, falling stars can only create so much light, according
to Dr. Benjamin Gompertz of the University of Birmingham, who conducted this
investigation.
"We
recognized that something genuinely gigantic must be powering AT 2022cmc since
it was so brilliant and sustained for so long—a supermassive black hole,"
the author said.
His team
came to the conclusion that the star's destruction caused a swirl of material
to fall into the black hole, which is what caused the intense X-ray activity.
According
to Dr. Pasham, it is likely engulfing the star at a pace of half the sun's mass
per year.
Two
journals in Nature and Nature Astronomy have today revealed the findings of the
study of AT2022cmc.
It has
been well over ten years since a TDE flew, and scientists are still baffled as
to why certain TDEs fly and others do not.
The speed
at which the star's stuff is spinning around the black hole while it is being
consumed is considered to be related to this, and a particularly fast spin may
drive the brilliant jets. Astronomers believe they may be able to witness more
TDEs and find some answers when more powerful telescopes are deployed.
We anticipate
seeing a lot more of these TDEs in the future, according to co-author and MIT
professor Dr. Matteo Lucchini.
Then we
might finally be able to explain how black holes produce these very powerful
jets.