A black hole has been spotted ‘giving birth’ to stars in a nearby dwarf galaxy – suggesting the voids aren’t as violent as previously thought, NASA has revealed.
Because they consume stars and light, black holes are sometimes called ‘destructive beasts’.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has revealed new evidence that a black hole is located at the center of Henize 2-10, which appears to be creating stars and not consuming them.
According to some reports, the black hole may be contributing to new star formation in the midst of a “firestorm” Henize 2-10 is located in the south constellation of Pyxis, 30 million light years away.
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The Hubble Space Telescope image of the Henize 2-10 Galaxy shows a supermassive blackhole at its center. An outflow or bridge of hot gases 230 light years long connects Henize 2-10’s huge black hole to the star-forming area. This pullout shows the region in the center of dwarf starburst galaxie Henize 2-10
Henize 2-10 has a size approximately 10 percent of that of our Milky Way, and regions with very fast star formation
The study of Hubble data was conducted by Zachary Schutte and Amy E. Reines, two researchers at Montana State University’s Department of Physics and announced by NASA.
Schutte stated that Henize 2-10, which is only 30,000,000 light years away, was close enough for Hubble to be able capture images of the black hole outflow and spectroscopic evidence.
“The outflow, instead of suppressing star formation was actually stimulating the birth and growth of new stars.
Henize 2-10 has a size approximately 10 percent of that of the Milky Way, and only one-tenth as many stars than the Milky Way.
Henize 2-10’s black hole is approximately 1,000,000 solar masses. Black holes in larger galaxies can have a mass greater than our Sun’s.
Henize 2-10’s spectroscopy and Hubble imaging show plasma flowing from the black hole.
This ionised gas slams into a another, dense cloud of gas near the edge of the dwarf galaxy, triggering the cloud into forming clusters of stars.
The distance separating the black hole and the star formation region at the edge of the dwarf galaxy is still hefty to the human mind – about 230 light years – but less so in astronomical terms.
The plasma outflow is moving at a speed of 1,000,000 miles an hour according to Hubble spectroscopy. It was hitting the dense gas like a garden hose, striking a heap of dirt and then spreading out.
This effect is opposite to what is seen in bigger galaxies. Here, material falling toward the dark hole is whisked away from surrounding magnetic fields. The result is blazing jets plasma traveling at almost the speed light.
Gaz clouds that are caught in jets’ paths would heat far beyond what they can cool down to form stars.
However, the smaller-massive black holes in Henize 2-10 and their gentler outflow allowed gas to be compressed enough for new star formation.
Reines and a team of scientists first looked at the galaxy Henize 2-10 back in 2011. They tried to figure out its behavior.
The dual emission of radio waves and X-rays, often seen in black holes, was observed by the researchers.
Henize 2-10 was a debate topic at the time. Astronomers were unsure if dwarf galaxies had black holes that are proportional to supermassive black hole found in larger galaxies.
Other astronomers thought that the observed radiation was more likely being emitted by a ‘supernova remnant’, the remains from an explosion of a massive star at the end of its life.
Hubble (pictured) orbits Earth at a speed of about 17,000mph (27,300kph) in low Earth orbit at about 340 miles in altitude, slightly higher than the International Space Station (ISS)
But data from Hubble – which is still operational despite NASA’s recent launch of the more powerful James Webb telescope – unequivocally shows a black hole, according to Reines.
She said that “Hubble”‘s extraordinary resolution shows a corkscrew pattern in gas velocities, which can be fitted to the model of precessing (or wobbling) outflow from an black hole.
“From the start I knew that something extraordinary and special was taking place in Henize 2-10. Hubble now has a clear view of the link between the black holes and the star-forming regions located around 230 light years from them.
Reines anticipates more research on dwarf galaxy black hole in the future with the goal of using them to help solve the mystery about how supermassive dark holes formed in the early universe.
Nature published the findings in its January 19th issue.
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope continues to work and has already made over 1.5 million observations in its first mission, which began in 1990.
Hubble’s telescope was launched from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre via Discovery on April 24, 1990.
Named after Edwin Hubble (1889-1889), the astronomer is a well-known figure in the sky.
Perhaps his most notable discovery, the Hubble constant, is that the universe expands at a faster rate than it does now is what he is best known for.
The Hubble telescope is named after famed astronomer Edwin Hubble who was born in Missouri in 1889 (pictured)
Hubble’s 1.5 million-plus observations have been made since the 1990 mission. It has also published more than 18,000 scientific papers.
The orbital speed is approximately 17,000 mph (27.5300kph in low Earth orbit, at about 340 feet in altitude).
Hubble’s pointing accuracy is.007 arc second, or the equivalent of being able shine a beam of laser light on Franklin D. Roosevelt from a distance 200 miles (2320 km).
Edwin Hubble is the reason why the Hubble telescope was named for him. Hubble is one the greatest astronomers in history.
Hubble’s primary mirror is 2.4 meters (7 feet, 10.5 inches) across and in total is 13.3 meters (43.5 feet) long – the length of a large school bus.
Hubble’s April 1990 launch and deployment marked the greatest advancement in astronomy after Galileo’s telescope.
Five servicing missions, more than 25 years in operation and five service missions have changed our perception of the universe.