Immediately two black holes: the Russian telescope made a scientific discovery
RadioAstron is an international space project with leading Russian participation in fundamental astronomical research in the radio spectrum of the electromagnetic spectrum using a space radio telescope (SRT) mounted on the Spektr-R Russian spacecraft (SC), as part of the ground-based VLBI networks (when telescopes are located at continental distances from each other). The project coordinators are the FIAN Astronomical Center.
It should be noted that the Astronomical Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute is a scientific center at the Physics Institute. P.N. Lebedeva of the Russian Academy of Sciences. At the same time, the mentioned SRT was put into orbit in July 2011. To open the mirror of the SRT receiving antenna, it took about three more months before the start of observations to synchronize with terrestrial radio telescopes. On Earth, two hundred-meter radio telescopes in Green Bank (USA) and Effelsbeg (Germany), as well as the Arecibo radio observatory (Puerto Rico) were used as synchronous radio telescopes.
But on January 10, 2019, the connection with the spacecraft was lost (the warranty period expired in 2014). On January 12, 2019, the project’s supervisor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yuri Kovalev, reported that the SRT on the Spektr-R spacecraft stopped working on receiving command data, but continued to send information to Earth. On May 30, 2019, a meeting of the State Spectrum-R flight test commission was held, at which a decision was made to complete the Spectrum-R project.
And so, on June 18, 2019 it became known that thanks to Radioastron, scientists for the first time received reliable indications that pairs of supermassive black holes could be located in the centers of galaxies, rotating at a short distance from each other. This was reported RIA News the aforementioned Yuri Kovalev.
- said the scientist.
It is reported that a very unusual black hole OJ287, located in one of the galaxies in the constellation Cancer at a distance of 3,6 billion light years from Earth, was discovered back in the 70s of the twentieth century. Long observations of it revealed an amazing phenomenon - this black hole periodically “exploded” and its brightness increased several times. Scientists have suggested (already in this millennium) that OJ287 lives in the center of its galaxy not alone, but in the company of another black hole. She approaches her approximately every 12 years and passes through her accretion disk - a “donut” consisting of fragments of asteroids, dust, gas and everything that revolves around OJ287. And such "families" of black holes attract the attention of scientists.
According to Kovalev, scientists had no doubt that a double black hole lives in the central part of the galaxy, but they had no direct or indirect evidence before that.
- specified Kovalev.
According to Kovalev, Russian scientists managed to study the central regions of OJ287 and see the characteristic distortions generated by the interactions of black holes with an accretion disk. The scientist promised that in the near future the results of observations will be published together with another large international scientific group specializing in the study of supermassive black holes.
It should be noted that the Astronomical Center of the Lebedev Physical Institute is a scientific center at the Physics Institute. P.N. Lebedeva of the Russian Academy of Sciences. At the same time, the mentioned SRT was put into orbit in July 2011. To open the mirror of the SRT receiving antenna, it took about three more months before the start of observations to synchronize with terrestrial radio telescopes. On Earth, two hundred-meter radio telescopes in Green Bank (USA) and Effelsbeg (Germany), as well as the Arecibo radio observatory (Puerto Rico) were used as synchronous radio telescopes.
But on January 10, 2019, the connection with the spacecraft was lost (the warranty period expired in 2014). On January 12, 2019, the project’s supervisor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yuri Kovalev, reported that the SRT on the Spektr-R spacecraft stopped working on receiving command data, but continued to send information to Earth. On May 30, 2019, a meeting of the State Spectrum-R flight test commission was held, at which a decision was made to complete the Spectrum-R project.
And so, on June 18, 2019 it became known that thanks to Radioastron, scientists for the first time received reliable indications that pairs of supermassive black holes could be located in the centers of galaxies, rotating at a short distance from each other. This was reported RIA News the aforementioned Yuri Kovalev.
On the one hand, it cannot be said that swirling ejections and a curved disk necessarily indicate the existence of a double black hole - they could have arisen in other ways. On the other hand, our observations are fully consistent with the predictions of the theory and are most easily explained by the fact that there are two black holes in the center of the galaxy OJ287
- said the scientist.
It is reported that a very unusual black hole OJ287, located in one of the galaxies in the constellation Cancer at a distance of 3,6 billion light years from Earth, was discovered back in the 70s of the twentieth century. Long observations of it revealed an amazing phenomenon - this black hole periodically “exploded” and its brightness increased several times. Scientists have suggested (already in this millennium) that OJ287 lives in the center of its galaxy not alone, but in the company of another black hole. She approaches her approximately every 12 years and passes through her accretion disk - a “donut” consisting of fragments of asteroids, dust, gas and everything that revolves around OJ287. And such "families" of black holes attract the attention of scientists.
According to Kovalev, scientists had no doubt that a double black hole lives in the central part of the galaxy, but they had no direct or indirect evidence before that.
Imagine - one of these objects is billions of times heavier than the Sun, and the second is hundreds of millions of times. The theory predicts that in this case their emissions should be helical. The high resolution of Radioastron allowed us to conduct the first observations of this kind.
- specified Kovalev.
According to Kovalev, Russian scientists managed to study the central regions of OJ287 and see the characteristic distortions generated by the interactions of black holes with an accretion disk. The scientist promised that in the near future the results of observations will be published together with another large international scientific group specializing in the study of supermassive black holes.
- https://ru.wikipedia.org/
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