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This allowed for the first time to obtain accurate data on the rotation speed of a black hole
. Astrophysicists observed the process of destroying a supermassive black hole of a passing star, which allowed to obtain for the first time accurate data on the speed of rotation of a supermassive black hole. The results of this work are presented in an article published in Science and the authors presented a report at the 233rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, Ukr.Media reports.
The rotation speed of the black hole was still difficult to measure. Previously, scientists were able to determine the rotational velocity of certain Milky Way black holes in the class of star-mass black holes (5 to 30 sunrays) by observing the regular changes in their X-rays. For supermassive black holes, observations were limited to several cycles of change that did not clearly display the velocity values.
In November 2014, astronomers observed a remote flash of light using a network of telescopes under the general name ASASSN (Automated Supernovae All-Weather Survey). about 290 million light years from Earth. The event was named ASASSN14-li and was classified as a result of the destruction of stars by the tide (when one object is destroyed by another, much larger, with a gravitational influence) . It occurred in the immediate vicinity of the supermassive black hole located in the center of the PGC 043234 galaxy. When detecting an epidemic, scientists involved in the study of the X-ray of the NASA Observatory: Chandra and Neil Gears Swift's telescope, as well as the XMM-Newton telescope – stellar matter remains, spinning the center of a supermassive black hole, heats up heavily and produces a tremendous amount of rays X. From them, a long accretion disk is formed, which, until the discovery of ASASSN14-li, could not be studied with precision.
The ASASSN14-li observations showed remarkable stability and periodicity (rotation cycle of just over two minutes). For the first time, it was possible to accurately estimate the rotation speed of a supermassive black hole: fixing that the diameter of the event horizon is about 300 times that of the Earth, astronomers have calculated that the rotational speed of a black hole is enormous and equal to about half the speed of light in a vacuum (for comparison, the speed of rotation of the sun around its axis, the speed of light is less than 150 thousand times). In addition, the accuracy of measurements, according to astronomers, is very high since 300 000 cycles of rotation were measured
The absorption of companion stars by black holes has long been studied by astronomers, for example, in 2015, the INTEGRAL gamma observatory recorded a rare event – the black hole of the star-company But this discovery is likely to give a new impetus to the study of the destruction of the tides and could become the key to measuring rotational speeds of supermassive black holes with abrupt changes in X-ray brightness.
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