News hardware A Really Bizarre Black Hole Has Been Discovered And It’s Unclear Why It’s Behaving Like This
A disturbing and fascinating space phenomenon, the black hole is still shrouded in mystery despite the relentless studies of scientists. A strange spectacle, which had never been observed until then, proves it once again.
Astronomers regularly have the opportunity to observe black holes, and sometimes they can even see one engulf a star that has come a little too close to it. Because the black hole “eats”, scientists know : this is also one of the points that make it a terrifying spatial phenomenon.
However, until then, no one had yet been able to observe a black hole having a “return”. Can you imagine a black hole burping because it has some “digestion” problem? Probably not, and neither do astronomers. However, this is the simplest way to describe what can be observed by its scientists since June 2021which was publicly unveiled last week.
A dark tale of spatial digestion
To understand what we are talking about, you have to go back to october 2018 : it was during this period that the black hole AT2018hyz, located 665 million kilometers from the Earth, decided to attract in its wake a star which ended up being shredded before being engulfed. We then speak of spaghettification of the staralso called “tidal rupture event (TDE)”. A flash of light is then visible to the researchers, who are used to regularly attending this kind of spectacle.. Because of this, AT2018hyz’s meal didn’t catch their attention that much.
But the situation changes in June 2021, almost three years later. In effect, AT2018hyz starts getting attention again, “reviving” for no apparent reason. Scientists quickly establish that the black hole has not absorbed anything since the star of 2018, and then wonder the reason for this awakening.
Astronomers then decide to observe the black hole in more detail to understand the situation. “We have made requests to several telescopes for observation time”explains Yvette Cendes, researcher at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “When we witness an unexpected phenomenon, we must not wait to observe it. All our requests were immediately accepted”.
AT2019dsg, artist illustration (Credit: DESY, Science Communication Lab)
A spatial phenomenon never observed before
This is where scientists made a surprising discovery by studying different sources of information, including particularly revealing radio observations: nearly three years after its previous ‘meal’, black hole AT2018hyz blasted matter back into space that belonged to the previously devoured star. A kind of “burp”, in short.
If this phenomenon is known, it generally occurs immediately after the TDE. Here, the fact that it takes place three years after the Black Hole Feast is simply unheard of. “It took us completely by surprise – no one has ever seen anything like this before”how Yvette Cendes.
Scientists have concluded that the black hole is currently shedding matter at half the speed of light, but they have no idea why.. Why at this speed, which is very high, and above all, why three years later? “In the case of AT2018hyz, there was radio silence for three years, and it is now so bright that it has become one of the brightest TDEs ever observed”adds astronomy professor Edo Berger.
Astronomers will continue to work on the AT2018hyz mysteryin order to determine if this is a truly unique case, or if other similar situations have taken place in the past while remaining out of sight of the scientific community.