{"id":9459,"date":"2024-12-17T08:22:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T13:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/?p=9459"},"modified":"2024-12-17T08:22:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T13:22:46","slug":"event-horizon-telescope-moving-towards-a-close-up-of-a-black-hole-and-its-jets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/?p=9459","title":{"rendered":"Event Horizon Telescope: Moving Towards a Close-Up of a Black Hole and Its Jets"},"content":{"rendered":"
The hidden centre of galaxy NGC 1052 (artist\u2019s impression). In this artist\u2019s impression we are nearing the supermassive black hole at the centre of galaxy NGC 1052. Here, material collects in a spinning disk before falling into the black hole, and magnetic fields build up which may help launch the galaxy\u2019s powerful jets. Credit: Chalmers University of Technology | 3dVision | Johan Bournonville | Anne-Kathrin Baczko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After taking the first images of black holes, the ground-breaking Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is poised to reveal how black holes launch powerful jets into space. Now, a research team led by Anne-Kathrin Baczko from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden has shown that the EHT will be able to make exciting images of a supermassive black hole and its jets in the galaxy NGC 1052. The measurements, made with interconnected radio telescopes, also confirm strong magnetic fields close to the black hole\u2019s edge. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The main research<\/a> question for the project\u2019s scientists was how do supermassive black holes launch galaxy-size streams of high-energy particles \u2013 known as jets \u2013 into space at almost light-speed? Now, scientists have taken an important step towards being able to answer this question, with intricate measurements of the centre of the galaxy NGC 1052, at a distance of 60 million light years from Earth. <\/p>\n

The scientists made coordinated measurements using several radio telescopes, providing new insights into the workings of a galaxy and its supermassive black hole. The results are reported in a paper published in the scientific journal Astronomy & Astrophysics<\/em> on 17 December 2024. <\/p>\n

A promising yet challenging target <\/strong><\/p>\n

The work has been led by Anne-Kathrin Baczko, astronomer at Onsala Space Observatory, Chalmers University of Technology.  <\/p>\n

\u201cThe centre of this galaxy, NGC 1052, is a promising target for imaging with the Event Horizon Telescope, but it\u2019s faint, complex and more challenging than all other sources we\u2019ve attempted so far\u201d, says Anne-Kathrin Baczko. <\/p>\n

The galaxy has a supermassive black hole that is the source of two powerful jets which stretch thousands of light years outwards through space.  <\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to investigate not just the black hole itself, but also the origins of the jets which stream out from the east and west sides of the black hole as seen from Earth\u201d, says Eduardo Ros, team member and astronomer at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany. <\/p>\n

The team made measurements using just five of the telescopes in the EHT\u2019s global network \u2013 including ALMA (the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array) in Chile, in a configuration that would allow the best possible estimate of its potential for future observations, and supplemented with measurements from other telescopes. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor such a faint and unknown target, we were not sure if we would get any data at all. But the strategy worked, thanks in particular to the sensitivity of ALMA and complementary data from many other telescopes,\u201d says Anne-Kathrin Baczko. <\/p>\n

The jets and hidden centre of galaxy NGC 1052 (artist\u2019s impression). In this artist\u2019s impression we are approaching the centre of galaxy NGC 1052. Behind clouds of gas and dust (shown in orange) lies the galaxy\u2019s central supermassive black hole. The two jets of high-energy particles (shown in blue) are launched by the black hole, but no one knows how. Radio telescopes can see through the clouds to reveal the centre of the galaxy. Credit: Chalmers University of Technology | 3dVision | Johan Bournonville | Anne-Kathrin Baczko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Zooming in on the black hole in the centre of NGC 1052 (artist\u2019s impression). How do black holes launch their powerful jets? In this visualisation of the centre of galaxy NGC 1052, we zoom in through layers of gas and dust to almost reveal the supermassive black hole. New measurements now show that the final close-up of the black hole \u2013 and the origin of its jets \u2013 are within the reach of the Event Horizon Telescope. Credit: Chalmers University of Technology | 3dVision | Johan Bournonville | Anne-Kathrin Baczko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Galaxy NGC 1052 and its neighbour NGC 1042 in visible light. NGC 1052 (lower right) is an elliptical galaxy located about 60 million light years from Earth in the constellation Cetus the Whale, seen here in visible light together with its neighbour, the spiral galaxy NGC 1042 (bottom right), and many faint stars in our own galaxy. The image was created from images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Credit: ESA\/Hubble, NASA, Digitized Sky Survey 2; Acknowledgement: Davide de Martin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Measurements show successful imaging possible in the future  <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • The scientists are now convinced that successful imaging will be possible in the future, thanks to two new key pieces of information: The black hole\u2019s surroundings shine brightly at just the right frequency of radio waves to be sure that they can be measured by the EHT. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
    • The size of the region where the jets are formed is similar in size to the ring of M 87* \u2013 easily big enough to be imaged with the EHT at full strength. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      From their measurements, the scientists have also estimated the strength of the magnetic field close to the black hole\u2019s event horizon. The field strength, 2.6 tesla, is about 400 times stronger than the Earth\u2019s magnetic field. That\u2019s consistent with previous estimates for this galaxy. <\/p>\n

      \u201cThis is such a powerful magnetic field that we think it can probably stop material from falling into the black hole. That in turn can help to launch the galaxy\u2019s two jets\u201d, says Matthias Kadler. <\/p>\n

      Even though the source is as challenging as this, the future looks bright as radio astronomers prepare for new generations of telescope networks, like the NRAO\u2019s ngVLA (next generation Very Large Array) and the ngEHT (The next generation Event Horizon Telescope). <\/p>\n

      \u201cOur measurements give us a clearer idea of how the innermost centre of the galaxy shines at different wavelengths. Its spectrum is bright at wavelengths around one millimetre, where we can make the very sharpest images today. It\u2019s even brighter at slightly longer wavelengths, which makes it a prime target for the next generation of radio telescopes\u201d, says team member Matthias Kadler, astronomer at the University of W\u00fcrzburg in Germany. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      After taking the first images of black holes, the ground-breaking Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) is poised to reveal how black holes launch powerful jets into space. Now, a research team led by Anne-Kathrin Baczko from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden has shown that the EHT will be able to make exciting images of a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":9461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.chalmers.se\/_next\/image\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.www.chalmers.se%2FMedia%2Feglfydxi%2Fc_ngc1052_visualisation_end_1920x1080.jpg%3Frxy%3D0.42385406891717725%252C0.4391089516084421%26width%3D1920%26height%3D1080%26v%3D1db4f9dc8bbc410%26quality%3D60%26format%3Dwebp&w=1920&q=90","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[216],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9462,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9459\/revisions\/9462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceandplanetarynewswire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}