Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, finding an unusual mark from a giant black hole’s powerful jet striking an unidentified object in its path. The detection was made in the galaxy Centaurus A (Cen A), located about 12 million light-years from Earth.
Researchers used the deepest X-ray image ever made of Cen A to find a patch of V-shaped emission connected to a bright source of X-rays, which they named C4. This source is located close to the path of the jet from the supermassive black hole and is highlighted in an inset. The arms of the “V” are at least about 700 light-years long.
While the researchers have ideas about what might be causing the collision, the identity of the object being blasted remains a mystery due to its great distance from Earth. The X-rays from C4 could be caused by the collision between particles in the jet and gas in a wind blowing away from the star, generating turbulence that ignites the X-ray emission.
The V-shape’s shape is not completely understood, with one arm appearing to match the picture of turbulence causing enhanced X-ray emission behind an obstacle, but the other arm has a large angle to the jet, leaving astronomers unsure what could explain it. This discovery is not the first time astronomers have seen black hole jets colliding with objects in Cen A, but C4 stands out due to its unique V-shape feature.
The study’s authors are from several universities and institutions, including the University of Michigan, University of Maryland, Penn State University, and Israel Institute of Technology. The Chandra X-ray Observatory is managed by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and controlled by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory’s Chandra X-ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Source: https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/black-hole-jet-stumbles-into-something-in-the-dark