NASA telescopes involved in this observation campaign included the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the Nuclear Spectroscopic Matrix (NuSTAR) and the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope.
Starting with EHT’s symbolic image of the M87, a new video takes viewers on a journey through the data from each telescope. The video shows data on several factors of ten to scale, both with the wavelengths of light and with the physical size. The sequence begins with the EHT image of the black hole in the M87 launched in April 2019 (data were obtained in April 2017). It then moves through images from other radio telescope arrays around the world, moving outward in the field of view during each stage. (The ladder for the width of the squares is given in light years in the lower right corner). Then, the visualization turns into telescopes that detect visible light (Hubble and Swift), ultraviolet light (Swift) and X-rays (Chandra and NuSTAR). The screen splits to show how these images are compared, covering the same amount of sky at the same time. The sequence ends by showing what gamma-ray telescopes on the ground and Fermi in space detect from this black hole and its jet.
Each telescope provides different information about the behavior and impact of the black hole of 6.5 billion solar masses in the center of M87, which is about 55 million light-years from Earth.
“There are several groups coming back to see if their models fit these rich observations, and we’re excited to see the entire community using this public data set to help us better understand the deep connections between black holes and their jets.” , Said co-author Daryl Haggard of McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
The data were collected by a team of 760 scientists and engineers from nearly 200 institutions in 32 countries or regions, using observatories funded by agencies and institutions around the world. The observations were concentrated from the end of March to the middle of April 2017
“This incredible set of observations includes many of the best telescopes in the world,” said co-author Juan Carlos Algaba of the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “This is a wonderful example of astronomers around the world working together in search of science.”
The first results show that the intensity of the electromagnetic radiation produced by the material around the supermassive black hole of the M87 was the lowest ever seen. This produced ideal conditions for the study of the black hole, from regions close to the horizon of events to tens of thousands of light-years.
The combination of data from these telescopes and current (and future) EHT observations will allow scientists to conduct important lines of research in some of the most significant and challenging fields of study in astrophysics. For example, scientists intend to use this data to improve Einstein’s theory of general relativity. Currently, the main obstacles to these tests are the uncertainties about the material that rotates around the black hole and is thrown into jets, especially the properties that determine the emitted light.
A related question, which is addressed by today’s study, refers to the origin of energy particles called “cosmic rays”, which continuously bombard the Earth from outer space. Their energies can be a million times greater than what can be produced in the most powerful accelerator on Earth, the Large Hadron Collider. Huge jets launched from black holes, such as those shown in today’s images, are considered to be the most likely source of cosmic rays with the most energy, but there are many questions about details, including the precise locations where particles accelerate. Because cosmic rays produce light through their collisions, the highest-energy gamma rays can identify this location, and the new study indicates that these gamma rays are probably not produced near the horizon of events – at least not in 2017. A key to solving this debates will be a comparison with the observations of 2018 and the new data collected this week.
“Understanding particle acceleration is really essential in our understanding of both the EHT image and the jets, in all their ‘colors,'” said co-author Sera Markoff of the University of Amsterdam. “These jets manage to transport the energy released by the black hole to larger scales than the host galaxy, like a huge power cord. Our results will help us calculate the amount of power transported and the effect of black hole jets on its environment. ”
The release of this new treasure trove of data coincides with the 2021 EHT observation race, which uses a global range of radio antennas, the first in 2018. Last year’s campaign was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the previous year was suspended from due to unforeseen technical problems. Just this week, EHT astronomers are again targeting the supermassive black hole in M87, the one in our galaxy (called Sagittarius A *), along with a few black holes farther apart for six nights. Compared to 2017, the matrix has been improved by adding three more radio telescopes: the Greenland Telescope, the 12-meter Kitt Peak Telescope in Arizona and the NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) in France.
“With the publication of this data, combined with the resumption of observation and improved EHT, we know that there are many interesting new results on the horizon,” said co-author Mislav Baloković of Yale University.
The Astrophysical Journal letter describing these results is available here: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/abef71.
For more information on NuSTAR, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/nustar/main/index.html