Exploring M87's Supermassive Black Hole - How the Universe Works

2023年07月08日

M87 の超大質量ブラックホールを探索すると、銀河から削り出された巨大な空洞と、宇宙全体に致命的な放射線のジェットが発射されるなど、その計り知れない力が明らかになります。ジェットの結び目は光速を超えているように見えますが、それは遠近法によって引き起こされる錯覚です。ジェットは、ブラックホールの周りで渦巻く明るいガスの渦である降着円盤の強力なエネルギーによって燃料を供給されます。円盤内の磁場がねじれたり折れたりして、ジェットを形成するエネルギーを放出します。これらのジェットはガス雲を消滅させ、大規模な破壊を引き起こす可能性があります。(English) Exploring M87's supermassive black hole reveals its immense power, with giant cavities carved out of the galaxy and a deadly jet of radiation shooting across the universe. The knots in the jet appear to break the speed of light, but it's an illusion caused by perspective. The jets are fueled by the intense energy of the accretion disk, a bright vortex of gas swirling around the black hole. The magnetic fields within the disk twist and snap, releasing energy that forms the jets. These jets can annihilate gas clouds and cause massive destruction.

Exploring M87's Supermassive Black Hole - How the Universe Works

We are hurtling through M87, a giant galaxy 55 million light-years from Earth. At its heart is a supermassive black hole called M87 star. It is the first and only black hole ever photographed. We want to discover how M87 star got so big, what is inside, and how it controls the galaxy. Five thousand light years from the supermassive black hole, we get our first sign of the danger ahead.

We see giant holes carved out of the galaxy, starless voids thousands of light years across. We can see the debris strewn about as we approach. It's like entering the dragon's lair and seeing the bones of all the explorers who came before you. What cataclysmic force tore open these vast cavities in the galactic gas clouds? We get a clue when we fly alongside a brilliant energy wave thousands of light years from the M87 star.

It's a deadly beam of radiation shooting across the galaxy. It is a "Jet". This beam looks like a searchlight or a beam from a lighthouse. You see this monumental thing screaming out of the black hole, blasting radiation.

The first time I saw a photo of a jet, I thought, whoa, am I misreading the scale of this picture? Because there was this crazy "Star Trek" kind of beam coming out.

In 1918, the American astronomer Heber Curtis described the jets as a strange, straight beam. A century later, observatory images show them pulsating with energy.

The photographs show knots and clumps in these jets. They show that it's not smooth and pleasant, and this jet has a history of violence.

This violent energy pushes the knots along the rays. The knots reveal the speed of the jets. It's like looking at a fast-moving train—cars of the same colour blur into one continuous image. But different coloured wagons stand out from the others. It's the same with the nodes moving along the jets.

So we can work out how fast the jets are moving by looking at the knots of material coming out from near the black hole. When the astronomers measured the speed of two knots, they were surprised. One is moving at 2.4 times the speed of light, and the other is moving at more than six times the speed of light.

How is this possible? As strange as the physics around a black hole is, it doesn't happen, nor is it allowed to happen. Nothing can go faster than the speed of light. So obviously, we're missing something here. The knots may appear to break the speed of light.

But the universe is just playing with us. It's just a consequence that a lot of this beam is pointing at us, partly at the observer on Earth. In a sense, the optical illusion tricks you into thinking it's moving faster. It's a simple trick of light.

A bit like the way a spoon looks bent and distorted in a glass of water. The impossibly fast speed of the jet is just an illusion of perspective.

From our perspective, the whole thing is moving towards us faster than the speed of light. But in reality, it's just going very, very fast.

The jets don't break the laws of physics. They're pushing against them, travelling at 99.999995% of the speed of light. Imagine the energy required to accelerate that whole jet to that speed.

What could generate enough power to shoot jets near-light speed across the galaxy? There is a hint far ahead.

The jets shoot out from a tiny, brightly glowing object. This is where the action is. This is the centre of the action. This is where the real action is.

A ring of super-hot gas and dust swirls around the supermassive black hole. It's called the accretion disk. And it shines a billion times brighter than the sun.

You would be fried quickly if you had a ringside seat next to the M87 star. But if you were some magical being and could survive anything and had millions of SPF great sunglasses, you would see this enormously bright vortex of gas swirling around this dark void.

This bright vortex is spinning around the supermassive black hole at over two million miles an hour. So there's tremendous friction as slower and faster-moving material rubs against each other. That's what heats the disk, and that's what makes it glow. Scientists think the accretion disk's intense energy is the jets' source.

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The hot swirling gas and dust create strong magnetic fields. As the disc spins, it twists the magnetic fields at the poles of the black hole. Energy builds up. Eventually, the magnetic domains can't contain the spot any longer. They snap and shoot the jets out into the galaxy. Even many light years away on the ship, we can see this violent release of energy.

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It's like the most extensive fireworks display in the universe. Two jets are shooting out from the poles of M87 star. One shoots off into the distance, and the other races past our ship. We're in a safe space; other things are not. So when these jets shoot out of this supermassive black hole, they're not drilling into anything.

If a jet hits a gas cloud, it annihilates it. It just blows a hole right through it. It's like a train going down a snowy track. The gas is like the snow, and the jets are like this freight train ploughing through it. But this is a freight train going near the speed of light.

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We crashed into clouds of gas, lighting our way to the M87 star as we followed the trail of destruction. There is evidence of a similar collapse across the universe. In the Cygnus A galaxy, supermassive black hole jets have wreaked havoc on a colossal scale. In many ways, Cygnus A is like a cosmic shooting gallery.

You see this crime scene, this beautiful mess. So when this jet comes out of the core of Cygnus A, it will hit clouds of gas. At that point, shockwaves build up. And this jet is ripping through this material, sending shock waves in all directions, creating absolute chaos.

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It's hard to believe the devastation these jets can cause. They're punching a hole in the gas 100,000 light-years across. I mean, that's the size of a whole galaxy. As we head towards the centre of the M87 galaxy, we are entering hostile territory. The closer we get to the supermassive black hole, the more dangerous it gets.

As we approach the central core of M87, we start to feel it. This black hole is driving all this energy and ferocity.

Intense winds begin to buffet the ship. They are pushing away vital gas, extinguishing star birth. Could these winds eventually kill the galaxy and the M87 star itself?

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When was the M87 black hole discovered?

The French astronomer Charles Messier discovered M87 in 1781 and catalogued it as a nebula. M87 is about 16.4 million parsecs (53 million light-years) from Earth and is the second-brightest galaxy within the northern Virgo Cluster, having many satellite galaxies.

When was Messier 87 photographed?

2017

The historic first image of the M87 central supermassive black hole, which has a mass 6.5 billion times that of the sun and is located 55 million light years from Earth, was taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration in 2017 and unveiled two years later.

How was the M87 black hole discovered?

Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have found seemingly conclusive evidence for a massive black hole in the centre of the giant elliptical galaxy M87, located 50 million light-years in the constellation Virgo. Earlier observations suggested the black hole was present but were not decisive.

When did black holes start appearing?

When the universe was still a baby – less than 1 billion years old – some of its stars turned into monster black holes. A fundamental mystery in astronomy has been: why are there so many supermassive black holes in the early universe?

Is the galaxy M87 faster than light?

The jet travels almost as quickly towards us as the light it generates, giving the illusion that its motion is much more rapid than the speed of light. In the case of M87, the jet is pointing close to our direction, resulting in these exotic apparent speeds.

What is unique about M87?

M87 is the most potent known source of radio energy among the thousands of galactic systems constituting the so-called Virgo Cluster. It is also a powerful X-ray source, suggesting scorching gas in the galaxy. A luminous gaseous jet projects outward from the galactic nucleus.

Is M87 dead?

For instance, the Milky Way is still alive and slowly forming new stars, but not too far away (in astronomical terms); the central galaxy of the Virgo cluster -- M87 -- is dead and completely different.

Is the M87 black hole real?

The black hole is roughly 54 million light-years from Earth, at the centre of the Messier 87, or M87, galaxy. The colossal black hole is massive—approximately 6.5 billion times more mass than the sun—and has a powerful gravitational pull that nothing can escape.

Why is M87 so big?

Like M87, the giant galaxy in the massive Virgo Cluster of galaxies, giant elliptical galaxies have grown from the merger of many other universes. That's likely why M87's central black hole is so large — it assimilated the major black holes of all the galaxies it swallowed.

How long is the jet in M87?

The subject of the first-ever image of a black hole, M87's supermassive black hole (SMBH), has drawn scientists' attention once more thanks to its jet. Emanating from the galaxy's heart, the jet stretches nearly 3,300 light-years in length and, thanks to research published Dec.

How many black holes are in the Milky Way?

Since the Milky Way contains over 100 billion stars, our home galaxy must harbour 100 million black holes. Though detecting black holes is difficult, estimates from NASA suggest there could be as many as 10 million to a billion stellar black holes in the Milky Way.