Light Echoes from Our Supermassive Black Hole
Astronomers believe that an object with the mass of the planet Mercury was devoured by the black hole about 50 years ago. The event released a torrent X-rays that flooded out in all directions. Some of those X-rays collided with nearby gas clouds, and were reflected in our direction.
Chandra imaged the same region for three years in a row, and saw that the shape and brightness of the clouds changed matching theoretical predictions made by astronomers. Since X-ray emissions are stopped by the Earth’s atmosphere, and we didn’t have an X-ray observatory in space 50 years ago, nobody was able to see the original event. All we get to see is the echo.
Original Source: Chandra News Release
Recent Posts
Astronomers Find a 3 Million Year Old Planet
Astronomers have just found one of the youngest planets ever. At only 3 million years…
There was Hot Water on Mars 4.45 Billion Years Ago
Mars formed 4.5 billion years ago, roughly the same time as the Earth. We know…
Axion Dark Matter May Make Spacetime Ring
Dark matter made out of axions may have the power to make space-time ring like…
Earth’s Old Trees Keep A Record of Powerful Solar Storms
Most of the time the Sun is pretty well-mannered, but occasionally it's downright unruly. It…
New Supercomputer Simulation Explains How Mars Got Its Moons
One mystery in planetary science is a satisfying origin story for Mars's moons, Phobos and…
The Early Universe May Have Had Giant Batteries of Dust
The largest magnetic fields in the universe may have found themselves charged up when the…