- Astronomers have been observing black holes around the “Spiderweb” galaxy for more than 8 days.[{”attribute=””>NASA’sChandraX-rayObservatory[{”attribute=””>NASA’sChandraX-rayObservatory
- Chandra revealed 14 actively growing supermassive black holes — a much higher rate than other similar samples.
- The difference may be caused by collisions between galaxies in the forming cluster or by an excess of colder gas.
- The “Spiderweb” gets its nickname from its appearance in some optical light images.
Credit: X-ray: NASA / CXC / INAF / P. Tozzi et al; Optical (Subaru): NAOJ / NINS; Optical (HST): NASA / STScI
Often, a spiderweb conjures the idea of captured prey soon to be consumed by a waiting predator. In the case of the “Spiderweb” protocluster, however, objects that lie within a giant cosmic web are feasting and growing, according to data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.
The Spiderweb galaxy, officially known as J1140-2629, gets its nickname from its web-like appearance in some optical light images. This likeness can be seen in the inset box where data from NASA’s https://www.youtube.com/watch؟v=Eki6Sv8yCtU
To discover the growing black holes in the spider’s web’s initial cluster, a team of researchers spent more than eight days observing them with Chandra. In the main panel of this graphic, a composite image of the Spiderweb X-ray protocol discovered by the moon (also in purple), which correlates with optical data from the Subaru telescope at Mauna Kea in Hawaii (red and green and the larger image is 11.3 million light-years across.
14 sources found by Chandra. Credit: X-Ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/P. Dosi et al.; Optical (Subaru): NAOJ/NINS; Optical (HST): NASA/STSCI
Most of the “bubbles” in the photogram are galaxies in the protocol, 14 of which were discovered in the new, innermost lunar image. These X-ray sources reveal the presence of matter falling toward supermassive black holes hundreds of millions of times heavier than the Sun. The proto-spider web cluster exists in the universe that astronomers refer to as the “Cosmic Nine”. At this time – about 3 billion years after the Big Bang – scientists have discovered that black holes and galaxies are experiencing intense growth.
The spider’s web seems to violate the highest standards of this active period of the universe. The 14 sources discovered by Chandra (circled in the image below) indicate that about 25% of the largest galaxies contain actively growing black holes. They are found in other galaxies of the same age and are five to twenty times larger than a fraction of the same size.
14 sources found by Chandra. Credit: X-Ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/P. Dosi et al.; Optical (Subaru): NAOJ/NINS; Optical (HST): NASA/STSCI
These results indicate that some environmental factors are responsible for the large number of rapidly growing black holes in the spiderweb’s protocluster. Collisions and excessive interactions between galaxies may be a factor in degassing toward the black holes at the center of each galaxy and consuming large amounts of material. Another explanation is that there is still a large amount of cold gas in the initial mass.[{”attribute=””>blackholethanhotgas(thiscoldgaswouldbeheatedastheprotoclusterevolvesintoagalaxycluster)[{”attribute=””>blackholethanhotgas(thiscoldgaswouldbeheatedastheprotoclusterevolvesintoagalaxycluster)
Close up. Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/INAF/P. Tozzi et al; Optical (Subaru): NAOJ/NINS; Optical (HST): NASA/STScI
A detailed study of Hubble data may provide important clues about the reasons for the large number of rapidly growing black holes in the Spiderweb protocluster. Extending this work to other protoclusters would also require the sharp X-ray vision of Chandra.
https://www.youtube.com/watch؟v=Wbw4CvQTqwE
It was agreed to publish a paper in a journal describing these findings Astronomy and astronomy. The first author was Pavlo Dossi of the National Astronomical Institute of Archeology, Italy.
Note: “700 ks Chandra Spiderweb Field I: Evidence for Proliferative Nuclear Activity in the Primary Cluster” b. Dossie, L.; Penterichi, p. Gilly, M.; Panela, F.; Fiore, c. Miley, M.; Nonino, H. J. A.; Rodgering, F.; Strassolo, C. S. Anderson, S.; Borkani, A.; Calabro, c. Curly, H.. Dannerpur, L. De Mascolo, c. Ferroglio, R.; Jobat, S.; Jane, A.; Liu, d. Mrskovsky, c. Norman, E.; Razia, b. Rosati and A. sir, accepted, Astronomy and astronomy.
arXiv: 2203.02208
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center manages the Chandra program. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center controls science operations from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and flight from Burlington, Massachusetts.