Astronomers observe light from behind a black hole for the first time
This may help astronomers map out the area around a black hole
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Scientists announced the first-ever observation of light from behind a black hole.
Black holes are notorious for having such a strong gravitational pull that not even light can escape it, but that doesn’t mean that light can’t bend around it — in fact, the exceptionally strong gravity makes it more likely.
A new study by researchers observed this phenomenon for the first time, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced Wednesday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An artist’s concept illustrates a supermassive black hole. A new theoretical study outlines a method that could be used to search for wormholes in the background of supermassive black holes. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
The researchers, led by Dan Wilkins of Stanford University, used the ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s NuSTAR space telescopes to observe light from behind a supermassive black hole located in the center of a nearby spiral galaxy called I Zwicky 1, about 800 million light-years from Earth.
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The study did not expect to see anything, instead aiming to discover more information about a black hole’s "corona."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The "corona," the researchers theorized, was the result of gas that falls continuously into the black hole, creating a spinning disk around it.
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The gas, though, creates a pathway for the light to bend around the black hole itself: The gas heats up to millions of degrees and generates magnetic fields that twist into knots until they snap, releasing the energy stored inside it. The burst also produces X-ray light so bright that it reflects off the gas disk and falls into the black hole as well as around it.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The light is called an "echo," and the bend is a phenomenon that Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of General Relativity.
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The phenomenon is more than just a cool trick: The light also changes color as it bends depending on the environment. Astronomers believe they can use this light to create a 3D map of a black hole and it surroundings.
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"It's a key part of the puzzle to understanding how the galaxies formed and how the universe as we know it became how it is," Dr. Wilkins said, according to ABC 7.