The team found that the energy heating this swirling cloud of gas and dust originates from collisions with high-speed gas jets, or “shocks,” rather than from the black hole itself as previously thought.This finding challenges earlier theories that the black hole’s own energy was responsible for heating the dust.
James Webb Space Telescope reveals high-speed jets’ surprising effect on surrounding dust and gas
According to an article published in Space.com, the supermassive black hole in question is located in ESO 428-G14, an active galaxy about 70 million light-years from Earth. An “active galaxy” is characterised by its central region, or “active galactic nucleus” (AGN), which emits intense light across the electromagnetic spectrum due to the supermassive black hole consuming surrounding matter.
The shock feature was discovered by the Galactic Activity, Torus, and Outflow Survey (GATOS) team, who are utilising JWST to investigate the centres of nearby galaxies.
All large galaxies are believed to have central supermassive black holes with masses ranging from millions to billions of times that of the sun, though not all of these black holes are in AGNs. For example, the Milky Way’s black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), is relatively quiet, consuming matter at a minimal rate. In contrast, the supermassive black hole in Messier 87 (M87), around 55 million light-years away, is much more massive and actively feeds on a vast amount of surrounding gas and dust.
The accretion disk around such black holes, formed by matter carrying angular momentum, is heated to extreme temperatures by the black hole’s tidal forces. This heating causes the disk to glow brightly, contributing to the AGN’s illumination. Additionally, powerful magnetic fields channel some of the accretion disk matter into high-speed jets emitted from the black hole’s poles. These jets, emitting across the electromagnetic spectrum with strong radio waves, can outshine all the stars in the surrounding galaxy. The surrounding dust often obscures the AGN’s core, but infrared light, which JWST detects, can penetrate this dust.
The GATOS team’s observations of ESO 428-G14 showed that dust around the supermassive black hole is dispersed along the jet paths, indicating that these jets may influence both the heating and shaping of the dust. Further research into the relationship between jets and surrounding dust could provide insights into how supermassive black holes shape their galaxies and recycle material in AGNs.
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