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Telescopes on Earth and in space have detected a mysterious “cosmic heartbeat” from a gas cloud in the constellation Aquilla.
Scientists say the strange pulses are linked to material blown out of a black hole in a nearby star system – which sucks material from a vast star 30 times the size of our Sun.
The researchers said the “gamma ray heartbeat” in Aquilla pulsed in time with a black hole 100 light years away in the SS 433 system.
The black hole sucks up matter from the giant star orbiting it, forming a swirling accretion disc that drains into the black hole like water in a tub drain, they said.
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Some of the material does not fall into the hole, but rather spirals out at high speed from the center of the disc back and forth.
The results were published today in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Jian Li, co-author of the study, Humboldt Fellow of the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron in Zeuthen, Germany, said: “This result calls into question obvious interpretations and is unexpected from previously published theoretical models.
“This gives us a chance to uncover the particle transport of SS 433 and probe the structure of the magnetic field in its vicinity.”
The researchers said that despite the distance between the black hole and the gas cloud, the pulses are at the perfect moment.
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“The consistent periods indicate that the emission from the gas cloud is powered by the micro quasar,” Li said.
Scientists still don’t know how the jets overcome the pull of the black hole and are emitted from the disk.
The current study asks a new question: How does the black hole fuel the heartbeat of the gas cloud?
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One suggestion is that the cloud’s gamma ray emissions are caused by the injection of the nuclei of hydrogen atoms, called fast protons, which are produced at the end of the jets or near the black hole.
“The SS 433 continues to amaze observers at all frequencies and theorists,” Li said.
“And it is certain to provide a test bed for our ideas on the production and propagation of cosmic rays near microquasars for years to come.”
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