SDSS J1430+1339: Storm Rages in Cosmic Teacup supermassive black hole powerful galactic storm

 

SDSS J1430+1339: Storm Rages in Cosmic Teacup supermassive black hole powerful galactic storm.

Credit image: Chandra X ray represent other objects in the same area of the sky. The image is watermarked “X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Cambridge/G. Lansbury et al; Optical: NASA/STScI/W. Keel et al.”

Would you like to indulge in a celestial cup of tea? This particular cup may not have the same soothing effect as the ones found on Earth. Within a distant galaxy, there exists a fascinating structure known as the "Teacup," where a powerful galactic storm is currently raging.

The cause of this cosmic tempest is none other than a supermassive black hole nestled at the heart of the galaxy, officially designated as SDSS 1430+1339. As matter from the central regions of the galaxy is drawn towards the black hole, it becomes energized by the immense gravitational forces and magnetic fields in its vicinity. The infalling material emits more radiation than all the stars within the host galaxy combined. This type of actively growing black hole is commonly referred to as a quasar.

Situated approximately 1.1 billion light years away from Earth, the host galaxy of the Teacup was initially discovered in visible light images by citizen scientists in 2007, as part of the Galaxy Zoo project, utilizing data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Since then, professional astronomers utilizing space-based telescopes have gathered valuable insights into the history of this galaxy, with the aim of predicting its future storminess. This newly created composite image incorporates X-ray data from Chandra (depicted in blue) alongside an optical view captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (depicted in red and green).

Credit image: Chandra The image is watermarked “X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Cambridge/G. Lansbury et al; Optical: NASA/STScI/W. Keel et al.”

The "handle" of the Teacup refers to a ring of optical and X-ray emissions encircling a colossal bubble. This handle-shaped feature, located approximately 30,000 light-years away from the supermassive black hole, is believed to have formed due to one or more eruptions powered by the black hole. Radio emissions, depicted in a separate composite image along with the optical data, also outline this bubble, as well as a similarly sized bubble on the opposite side of the black hole.

Previously, observations made using optical telescopes revealed that the atoms in the handle of the Teacup had undergone ionization. This means that these particles became charged when some of their electrons were stripped away, most likely due to the intense radiation emitted by the quasar in the past. By comparing the amount of radiation required to ionize the atoms with the estimates derived from optical observations of the quasar, it was suggested that the quasar's radiation production had significantly decreased by a factor ranging from 50 to 600 over a period of 40,000 to 100,000 years. This sharp decline in radiation led researchers to conclude that the quasar in the Teacup was gradually fading or dying.

However, new data obtained from the Chandra and ESA's XMM-Newton mission have provided astronomers with a better understanding of the history of this galactic phenomenon. The X-ray spectra, which measure the amount of X-rays across a range of energies, indicate that the quasar is heavily obscured by gas. This suggests that the quasar is actually producing much more ionizing radiation than previously estimated based solely on optical data. Therefore, the rumors of the quasar's demise may have been exaggerated. Instead, it appears that the quasar has only dimmed by a factor of 25 or less over the past 100,000 years.

Furthermore, the Chandra data also reveal evidence of hotter gas within the bubble, which suggests the presence of a material wind blowing away from the black hole. This wind, driven by the radiation emitted by the quasar, may have played a role in the formation of the bubbles observed in the Teacup.

Bubbles of different sizes have been observed by astronomers in elliptical galaxies, galaxy groups, and galaxy clusters. These bubbles are created by narrow jets that contain particles traveling at near the speed of light, shooting away from supermassive black holes. The power output of these black holes is dominated by the energy of these jets, rather than radiation.

In these systems driven by jets, astronomers have discovered that the power needed to generate the bubbles is directly proportional to their X-ray brightness. Interestingly, the Teacup quasar, which is driven by radiation, follows the same pattern. This suggests that quasar systems dominated by radiation and their counterparts dominated by jets can have similar effects on their surrounding galaxies.

The findings of this study were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters on March 20, 2018, and can be accessed online. The authors of the study include George Lansbury from the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, UK; Miranda E. Jarvis from the Max-Planck Institut für Astrophysik in Garching, Germany; Chris M. Harrison from the European Southern Observatory in Garching, Germany; David M. Alexander from Durham University in Durham, UK; Agnese Del Moro from the Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik in Garching, Germany; Alastair Edge from Durham University in Durham, UK; James R. Mullaney from The University of Sheffield in Sheffield, UK; and Alasdair Thomson from the University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.

The Chandra program is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on behalf of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is responsible for controlling Chandra's science and flight operations.