Scientists Spot ‘Burping’ Black Hole In Nearby Galaxy

The team observed the gassy outburst using X-ray data from the Kitt Peak National Observatory and NASA’s Chandra Observatory.

And as the snowplow effect sweeps material away, Schlegel says, “the expanding gas could also trigger star formation outside of the central volume”.

The black hole, centred in a small galaxy called NGC 5195, is the nearest of its kind to Earth undergoing such violent outbursts, which the researchers have likened to a kind of galactic indigestion, if you will.

This newly identified galaxy has an unusual feature since one of the two black holes is quite smaller than the other and it is starved of stars, which is odd since black holes are usually surrounded by numerous stars – this one is “naked”. “The hot gas is sweeping cooler hydrogen gas forward much like a snowplow – an example of a supermassive black hole affecting its host galaxy in a phenomenon known as feedback”.

“Apparently, black holes can also burp after their meal”, Eric Schlegel of the University of Texas said. One unusually star-deprived black hole at the site of two merged galaxies could provide new insight into black hole evolution and behaviour, new research from the University of Colorado Boulder has found. “It is common for big black holes to expel gas outward, but rare to have such a close, resolved view of these events”.

The older eruption is plowing a layer of glowing hydrogen gas from the center of NGC 5195, which sits about 26 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. This latest two-black hole galaxy is one of four discoveries that were made past year by Comerford, who claimed that finding a potential intermediate-size black hole inside was “an extra bonus”, according to a news release. “That makes this observation potentially very important”, Schlegel said.

All black holes “eat” stars, gas and matter – that’s what they do. The team estimates that it took about one to three million years for the inner arc to reach its current position, and three to six million years for the outer arc.

“We think that feedback keeps galaxies from becoming too large”, said Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CFA)’s Marie Machacek, a co-author of the study.

If it turns out not to be an intermediate black hole, then “the answer may lie in the galaxy merger itself”, Comerford continued.

The work was presented at the 227th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Florida this week and has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal. “But at the same time, it can be responsible for how some stars form, showing that black holes can be creative, not just destructive”.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. (AP) – An astrophysicist has discovered something even rarer than a double-black hole galaxy: a skinny black hole.