Tag: AGN
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Wobbling Black Hole Jet Revealed in Nearby Disk Galaxy: A Galaxy-Scale Revelation
Introduction: A Milky Way-Neighbor’s Dramatic Revelation Astronomers using the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea have identified the largest and most extended stream of super-heated gas flowing from a nearby disk galaxy. This discovery provides the clearest evidence yet that a supermassive black hole can launch powerful jets that distort and heat their galactic surroundings,…
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Supermassive Black Holes Exhibit Selective Feeding During Galaxy Mergers
Overview: A New Look at Black Hole Diets For decades, astronomers have treated supermassive black holes (SMBHs) as cosmic vacuum cleaners, voraciously consuming gas, stars, and anything that crosses their event horizons. Yet recent observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) are challenging that image. In merging galaxies, SMBHs show selective feeding patterns that…
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Selective Feeding: How Supermassive Black Holes Skim Gas During Galaxy Mergers
Introduction: A New View of Black Hole Feeding Black holes are often portrayed as cosmic vacuum cleaners, devouring anything that strays too close. Yet recent observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) show that supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in merging galaxies do not always gorge on available gas. Instead, their appetite appears selective, channelling…
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Rogue Black Hole Delivers Record Radio Blast: A TDE Off Galaxy Core
Overview: A rogue black hole and a star’s dramatic fate Astronomers have recorded a landmark tidal disruption event (TDE) that defies typical expectations: a supermassive black hole shredding a star while sitting far from the heart of its host galaxy. The event, designated AT 2024tvd, produced the brightest and fastest-changing radio signals ever observed from…
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Squashed Orbits Reveal Likely Origins of Black Hole Collision
Unveiling a Rare Cosmic Collision A cataclysmic collision between two black holes has offered astronomers a rare glimpse into how such binaries form. Detected as GW200208_222617, the event exhibited detectable orbital eccentricity—an oval-shaped path that is less common by the time black holes merge. This finding adds a crucial clue to the long-standing question of…
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JWST Captures Clearest-Ever Image of M87’s Black Hole Jet
Overview: JWST delivers a landmark infrared portrait For more than a century, astronomers have watched the brilliant jet streaming from the heart of the massive elliptical galaxy M87. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has now provided the clearest-ever infrared view of this galactic powerhouse, unveiling new details about the jet driven by M87’s central…
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Giant Stars With Black Holes Inside Them May Have Been Detected For The First Time
The Cliff and the Balmer Break Puzzle Astronomers are rethinking the dawn of galaxies after a series of unusually faint red dots, including a famed object nicknamed The Cliff, showed spectral quirks that challenge traditional explanations. One key feature is the Balmer break, a sharp change in a galaxy’s spectrum caused by hydrogen absorption. In…