{"id":31304,"date":"2024-06-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/astrofisicamas.cl\/?p=31304"},"modified":"2024-09-03T17:46:56","modified_gmt":"2024-09-03T17:46:56","slug":"despertar_despertar_agujero_negro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/astrofisicamas.cl\/en\/despertar_despertar_agujero_negro\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronomers see a massive black hole awaken in real time"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In late 2019 the previously unremarkable galaxy SDSS1335+0728 suddenly started shining brighter than ever before. To understand why, astronomers have used data from several space and ground-based observatories, including the European Southern Observatory\u2019s Very Large Telescope (ESO\u2019s VLT), to track how the galaxy\u2019s brightness has varied. In a study out today, they conclude that they are witnessing changes never seen before in a galaxy \u2014 likely the result of the sudden awakening of the massive black hole at its core.<\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paula S\u00e1nchez, an astronomer at ESO in Germany and at the Millennium Institute for Astrophysics MAS, is the first author of this research, in which Lorena Hern\u00e1ndez Garc\u00eda, MAS - UV researcher, also participated.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cImagine you\u2019ve been observing a distant galaxy for years, and it always seemed calm and inactive,\u201d says Paula S\u00e1nchez S\u00e1ez<\/strong>an astronomer at ESO in Germany and lead author of the study accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics<\/em>. De repente, su [n\u00facleo] comienza a mostrar dr\u00e1sticos cambios en el brillo, de una forma totalmente diferente a lo que se hab\u00eda observado antes\u00bb. Esto es lo que le sucedi\u00f3 a SDSS1335+0728<\/strong> cuando, en diciembre de 2019 [1], aument\u00f3 su brillo de forma impactante. Por eso ahora se clasifica como un \u00abn\u00facleo gal\u00e1ctico activo\u00bb (AGN por sus siglas en ingl\u00e9s, una regi\u00f3n compacta y brillante alimentada por un agujero negro masivo).<\/p>\n

Some phenomena, like supernova explosions or tidal disruption events \u2014 when a star gets too close to a black hole and is torn apart \u2014 can make galaxies suddenly light up. But these brightness variations typically last only a few dozen or, at most, a few hundreds of days. SDSS1335+0728 is still growing brighter today, more than four years after it was first seen to \u2018switch on\u2019.<\/strong> Moreover, the variations detected in the galaxy, which is located 300 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, are unlike any seen before, pointing astronomers towards a different explanation.<\/p>\n

The team tried to understand these brightness variations using a combination of archival data and new observations from several facilities, including the X-shooter instrument<\/a>on ESO\u2019s VLT<\/a> in Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert [2]. Comparing the data taken before and after December 2019, they found that SDSS1335+0728 is now radiating much more light at ultraviolet, optical, and infrared wavelengths. The galaxy also started emitting X-rays in February 2024. \u201cThis behavior is unprecedented,\u201d says S\u00e1nchez S\u00e1ez, who is also affiliated with the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS) in Chile.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe most tangible option to explain this phenomenon is that we are seeing how the [core] of the galaxy is beginning to show (...) activity,\u201d says co-author Lorena Hern\u00e1ndez Garc\u00eda, from MAS and the Universidad de Valpara\u00edso<\/a>in Chile<\/strong> \u00abDe ser as\u00ed, esta ser\u00eda la primera vez que vemos la activaci\u00f3n de un agujero negro masivo en tiempo real\u00bb.<\/p>\n

Massive black holes \u2014 with masses over one hundred thousand times that of our Sun \u2014 exist at the centre of most galaxies, including the Milky Way. \u201cThese giant monsters usually are sleeping and not directly visible,\u201d explains co-author Claudio Ricci, from the Universidad Diego Portales<\/a>,<\/strong> tambi\u00e9n en Chile. \u00abEn el caso de SDSS1335+0728, pudimos observar el despertar del agujero negro masivo, [que] de repente, comenz\u00f3 a darse un fest\u00edn con el gas disponible en sus alrededores, volvi\u00e9ndose muy brillante\u00bb.<\/p>\n

\u201c[This] process (...) has never been observed before,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez Garc\u00eda says. Previous studies reported inactive galaxies becoming active after several years, but this is the first time the process itself \u2014 the awakening of the black hole \u2014 has been observed in real time. Ricci, who is also affiliated with the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University, China, adds: \u201cThis is something that could happen also to our own Sgr A*, the massive black hole (...) located at the centre of our galaxy,\" but it is unclear how likely this is to happen.<\/p>\n

Follow-up observations are still needed to rule out alternative explanations.<\/strong> Another possibility is that we are seeing an unusually slow tidal disruption event, or even a new phenomenon. If it is in fact a tidal disruption event, this would be the longest and faintest such event ever observed. \u201cRegardless of the nature of the variations, [this galaxy] provides valuable information on how black holes grow and evolve,\u201d S\u00e1nchez S\u00e1ez says.<\/strong> \u00abEsperamos que instrumentos como MUSE en el VLT o los del pr\u00f3ximo Telescopio Extremadamente Grande (ELT, por sus siglas en ingl\u00e9s) sean clave para comprender [por qu\u00e9 la galaxia est\u00e1 brillando]\u00bb.<\/p>\n

Notas<\/strong>
[1] The SDSS1335+0728 galaxy\u2019s unusual brightness variations were detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) telescope in the US. Following that, the Chilean-led Automatic Learning for the Rapid Classification of Events (ALeRCE) broker classified SDSS1335+0728 as an active galactic nucleus.
[2] The team collected archival data from NASA\u2019s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and the eROSITA instrument on IKI and DLR\u2019s Spektr-RG space observatory. Besides ESO\u2019s VLT, the follow-up observations were conducted with the Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope (SOAR), the W. M. Keck Observatory, and NASA\u2019s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory and Chandra X-ray Observatory.<\/p>\n

Imagen principal:\u00a0A finales de 2019, la galaxia SDSS1335+0728 de repente comenz\u00f3 a brillar m\u00e1s que nunca y se clasific\u00f3 como un n\u00facleo gal\u00e1ctico activo, alimentado por un agujero negro masivo ubicado en el n\u00facleo de la galaxia. Esta es la primera vez que se observa en tiempo real el despertar de un agujero negro masivo. Esta reproducci\u00f3n art\u00edstica muestra el creciente disco de material que es atra\u00eddo por el agujero negro a medida que se alimenta del gas disponible en su entorno, lo que hace que la galaxia se \u00abencienda\u00bb. Cr\u00e9dito: <\/strong>ESO\/M. Kornmesser<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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