Scientists have witnessed a rare astronomical event: the awakening of a dormant supermassive black hole. This marks the first real-time observation of such a phenomenon, illuminating the galaxy SDSS1335+0728, which lies approximately 360 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo.
In late 2019, the galaxy's core began to shine intensely, revealing the presence of an active galactic nucleus powered by a supermassive black hole. This black hole, with a mass one million times that of our sun, had previously been dormant.
Using both Earth-based and orbiting telescopes, researchers tracked the brightening of SDSS1335+0728. The galaxy's black hole appears to be consuming nearby material, forming a spinning accretion disk that radiates energy at high temperatures, sometimes outshining the entire galaxy.
Astrophysicist Paula Sanchez Saez of the European Southern Observatory, lead author of the study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, emphasized the importance of studying active galactic nuclei to understand galaxy evolution and the physics of supermassive black holes. These luminous objects emit large amounts of energy across various wavelengths, from radio to gamma rays.
Despite decades of observation, the sudden increase in luminosity in 2019 was unexpected. While supermassive black holes sometimes emit jets of high-energy particles, no such jet has been detected from SDSS1335+0728. The cause of this black hole's activation remains unknown.
Astrophysicist Lorena Hernandez Garcia of the University of Valparaiso in Chile suggested it could be a natural process of the galaxy, such as a star falling into the black hole. However, if it represents a different phenomenon, it would be unprecedented in astrophysics.
This discovery raises questions about our own Milky Way galaxy's supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, located 26,000 light-years from Earth. Currently dormant, it could potentially become active. However, Hernandez reassures that even if it did, its distance from Earth means we would likely not notice any immediate effects.
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