An international team of astrophysicists has described how the heating and cooling of matter located around a black hole occurs.
Black holes are distant and mysterious space objects about which we know very little. They do not emit anything, therefore, they cannot be viewed from Earth or with the help of space telescopes. Meanwhile, it is possible to assume the presence of a black hole by studying the X-ray radiation generated in its vicinity. Substance that is near the black hole, but has not yet "fallen through" into it, forms the so-called. accretion disk. A kind of funnel is formed from it, the matter heats up and glows brightly in the entire spectrum.
Now an international team of astrophysicists was able to track how the heating and cooling of matter moving around the black hole occurs. Using space telescopes XMM-Newton and NuSTAR, scientists examined the galaxy IRAS 13224-3809, located in the constellation Centaurus. It is believed to have a supermassive black hole at its center.
Researchers have previously assumed that a black hole generates a cosmic "wind" that affects the matter around it. Now important new data have been obtained. According to Fiona A. Harrison, representing the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, it was possible for the first time to observe the rapid temperature change in the vicinity of a black hole.
The impact of the cosmic "wind" which is gaseous matter leads to the release of a huge amount of energy into the interstellar medium. This clears the space that surrounds the center of the galaxy. For the object IRAS 13224-3809 71, the "wind" speed reaches thousands of kilometers per second. Scientists believe that their findings will help to learn more about the processes taking place in accretion discs.
Ilya Vedmedenko
