The supermassive black hole M87*, famous for being the first black hole ever captured in an image, erupted with an unexpected and powerful gamma-ray flare.
The flare, observed by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) in April and May 2018, lasted three days and gave scientists a rare opportunity to study this energetic event. Located 55 million light-years away at the center of the galaxy M87, M87* surprised astronomers with a burst far more powerful than its typical activity.
M87 Black Hole's Gamma-Ray Flare Reveals the Power of High-Speed Jets
Black holes, like M87*, are surrounded by a spinning cloud of superheated gas and dust called an accretion disk. Although black holes are known for pulling everything nearby into their immense gravity, they are also messy eaters.
Instead of consuming all surrounding matter, some of it escapes in the form of high-speed jets. These jets blast particles away at speeds close to the speed of light, creating bursts of energy like the gamma-ray flare observed in 2018.
The size of the flare was extraordinary. Scientists estimate the flare's emission region was incredibly small—about 10 times the size of the black hole itself—even though the jet stretches millions of times wider than the black hole.
The flare likely originated when particles in the jet were accelerated to extreme energies, producing bright gamma rays. However, scientists are still unsure of the exact mechanism behind this energetic burst.
According to Space.com, M87* is far more massive and active than the black hole in our Milky Way, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). While Sgr A* has a mass of 4.3 million suns, M87* weighs a staggering 5.4 billion suns.
Unlike Sgr A*, which has little matter to consume, M87* feeds on a constant supply of surrounding gas, fueling its powerful jets and flares. This makes M87* a key object of study for scientists seeking to better understand black hole behavior.
Global Telescopes Unite to Uncover Black Hole's Gamma-Ray Flare Mystery
The EHT's groundbreaking observations were supported by space-based telescopes, including Fermi, NuSTAR, and Swift, which revealed the gamma-ray flare's increase in brightness.
The team also noticed changes in the black hole's surrounding ring of light, known as the event horizon. The bright and dim regions of the ring shifted during the flare, suggesting a connection between the flare and the structure of the black hole's jets, according to Yahoo News.
Scientists believe these results mark a major step in solving long-standing mysteries about black holes. By combining images of the event horizon with multi-wavelength observations, researchers hope to determine exactly where and how particles in black hole jets are accelerated.
This research could also help explain the origin of cosmic rays—high-energy particles that travel through space and occasionally reach Earth.
The discovery of this gamma-ray flare highlights the importance of global collaboration in astronomy. The EHT combines ground- and space-based telescopes, making it possible to capture these rare events.
The research, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, marks a milestone in understanding the energetic events surrounding supermassive black holes.
