A new discovery about the activity of a supermassive black hole in the early universe

Astronomers have observed intense plumes of plasma from a supermassive black hole after it "gobbled up" the material around it. The discovery promises to reveal the mysteries of galaxies formed early and how they evolved in the universe.

This observation is even more impressive when it is revealed that the supermassive black hole lies at the center of a galaxy 11 billion light-years away. Therefore, what we observe from this event may reveal the early days of the universe when it was only 3 billion years old.

The image illustrates a black hole gushing out with strong light.(Photo: NASA).

This breakthrough was made possible thanks to the phenomenon of gravitational lensing . Thanks to another great galaxy between us and the source of light, gravity has bent and amplified the original galaxy. In other words, gravitational lensing occurs when light from a background object (such as a galaxy) is amplified and lights up when encountering a large gravitational field (like a galaxy cluster) on its way to Earth. , so that we can see in greater detail the distant objects.

"This phenomenon is like a" natural telescope "that allows us to see distant objects in the universe," explained Takeo Minezaki - one of the researchers at the University of Tokyo.

The image shows what the galaxy would look like if it had a gravitational lens effect.(Photo: ALMA).

Thanks to the ALMA telescope system and the use of "gravitational lenses" , scientists can achieve unbelievably sharp vision with 9,000 times the efficiency of human vision.

These observations promise to reveal the mystery of how galaxies evolved in the early universe. In particular, the striking mark in these observations was the event that a supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy erupted enormous plumes of plasma.

Observing the interaction between the rays emitted from the black hole and the gas clouds they leave is important in understanding more about how galaxies evolved in the universe, astronomers said. know.

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