Tag Archives: lightyears

Discovering a Triple System of Active Galactic Nuclei 1.2 Billion Light-Years Away: A Major Astronomical Breakthrough

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A rare triple-merger galaxy, known as J121/1219+1035, hosts three actively feeding radio-bright supermassive black holes, as revealed by a team of American astronomers.

Artist’s impression of J121/1219+1035, a rare trio of merging galaxies, featuring three radioactively bright supermassive black holes actively feeding, with jets illuminating the surrounding gas. Image credit: NSF/AUI/NRAO/P. Vosteen.

The J1218/1219+1035 system is located approximately 1.2 billion light-years from Earth.

This unique galaxy system contains three interacting galaxies, each harboring supermassive black holes at their centers that are actively accreting material and shining brightly in radio frequencies.

Dr. Emma Schwartzman, a research scientist at the US Naval Research Laboratory, states: “Triple active galaxies like J1218/1219+1035 are incredibly rare, and observing them during a merger allows us a front-row seat to the growth of supermassive galaxies and their black holes.”

“Our observations confirmed that all three black holes in J1218/1219+1035 are emitting bright radiation and actively firing jets. This supports the theory of active galactic nuclei (AGN) and provides insight into the life cycle of supermassive black holes.”

Schwartzman and colleagues utilized NSF’s Very Large Array (VLA) and Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) to study J1218/1219+1035.

The findings confirmed that each galaxy hosts a compact synchrotron-emitting radio core, indicating that all three harbor AGNs powered by growing black holes.

This discovery makes J1218/1219+1035 the first confirmed triple radio AGN and only the third known triple AGN system in nearby space.

“The three galaxies within J1218/1219+1035, located about 22,000 to 97,000 light-years apart, are in the process of merging, resulting in a dynamically connected group with tidal signatures indicative of their interactions,” the astronomers noted.

“Such triple systems are crucial in the context of hierarchical galactic evolution, wherein large galaxies like the Milky Way grow through successive collisions and mergers with smaller galaxies, yet they are seldom observed.”

“By capturing three actively feeding black holes within the same merging group, our new observations create an excellent laboratory for testing how galactic encounters funnel gas into centers and stimulate black hole growth.”

J1218/1219+1035 was initially flagged as an anomalous system through mid-infrared data from NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Surveyor (WISE), which suggested the presence of at least two obscured AGNs within the interacting galaxies.

Optical spectroscopy confirmed one AGN in a core while revealing complex signatures in another, although the nature of the third galaxy remained uncertain due to the possibility of emissions from star formation.

“Only through new ultra-sharp radio imaging with VLA at frequencies of 3, 10, and 15 GHz did we uncover compact radio cores aligned with all three optical galaxies, confirming that each hosts an AGN bright in radio emissions and likely fueling small-scale jets and outflows,” the researchers explained.

“The radio spectra of the three cores exhibited traits consistent with non-thermal synchrotron radiation from the AGNs, featuring two sources with typical steep spectra and a third with an even steeper spectrum potentially indicative of unresolved jet activity.”

Source: www.sci.news

Massive Plasma Cloud Erupted from a Star 130 Light-Years Away

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SEI 273957047

Artist’s impression of a coronal mass ejection in a star

Olena Shumahalo/Collingham et al.

Astronomers have successfully identified the first clear evidence of a coronal mass ejection (CME) from a star outside of our solar system. This CME, a plasma cloud from a star located 130 light-years away, was observed using radio telescopes here on Earth.

Coronal mass ejections happen when solar storms propel bubbles of magnetized plasma into space. While such eruptions from our Sun can create auroras on Earth, they can also be powerful enough to disrupt the atmosphere of Venus, which lacks a protective magnetic field.

For decades, scientists have detected signs of CMEs in far-off stars, but until now, they were unable to confirm that this material truly escapes the star’s gravitational and magnetic grip, rather than simply being temporarily displaced and then drawn back in.

Joseph Cullingham and his team at the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy discovered these emissions utilizing the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope. The bursts, or radio waves, emitted by CMEs can only be captured when the ejection travels fully away from its origin, which is StKM 1-1262.

This research group also employed the XMM-Newton space-based X-ray telescope to assess the temperature, rotation, and luminosity of the host star.

Cullingham emphasized that this new evidence conclusively affirms prior speculations that CMEs indeed occur in distant stars. “Some will say we’ve seen indications for the last 30 years, and they’re right, but we’ve never been able to prove it definitively,” he remarked. “We are discussing mass being expelled and lost from the star, which has been a topic of ongoing debate.”

The radiation from these ejecta could pose a significant threat to potential life forms nearby. According to researcher Anthony Yates from Durham University in the UK, it is crucial to integrate insights on the frequency and intensity of CMEs from distant stars into models assessing the habitability of exoplanets. “If exoplanets were to exist, the repercussions for life there could be devastating,” he added.

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Article modified on November 12, 2025

Updated star distance from Earth.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Astronomers Observe Dramatic Galaxy Collision 11 Billion Light-Years Away

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Analysis from the ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and ALMA data indicates that intense radiation from a quasar within these galaxies affects the gas properties of other galaxies, reducing their ability to form new stars.

Artistic impression of a galaxy merger where the right galaxy hosts a quasar at its core. This quasar, containing a supermassive black hole, emits a powerful radiation cone that affects neighboring galaxies. This interaction can destroy gas and dust clouds, leaving behind only denser regions that may struggle to form stars. Image credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser.

“In the far reaches of the universe, two galaxies are entangled in an exhilarating conflict,” remarked Dr. Paschier Notardem, an astronomer affiliated with the Paris Astronomical Institute.

“On a collision course at speeds of 500 km/s, they collide multiple times, only to push one another away before gearing up for another round.”

“Thus, we refer to this system as the ‘space joust.’ However, these galactic contenders don’t fight fairly, utilizing quasars to strike with beams of radiation.”

Quasars are the luminous cores of certain distant galaxies powered by supermassive black holes, emitting substantial amounts of radiation.

The combination of a quasar with a galaxy was significantly more common during the universe’s first billion years, allowing astronomers to glimpse the remote past using powerful telescopes.

The light from this “joust of the universe” traveled over 11 billion years to reach us, providing a snapshot of the universe when it was merely 18% of its current age.

ALMA image showcasing the molecular gas content of two galaxies involved in a collision. Image credits: ALMA/ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/Balashev et al.

“According to Dr. Sergei Balashev from the Ioffe Institute,

the observations from the new VLT/ALMA indicate that radiation from the quasar J012555.11-012925.00 obliterates the normal gas and dust clouds in the surrounding galaxy, leaving only the densest regions.

These regions are likely too limited for star formation, causing a significant decline in stellar nurseries within the affected galaxy.

However, the transformed galaxies are not the only ones undergoing changes.

“These mergers are believed to funnel substantial amounts of gas into the supermassive black holes at the galaxies’ centers,” Dr. Balashev mentioned.

“In this cosmic arena, fresh supplies of fuel come within reach of black holes that power the quasar.”

“As these black holes are nourished, the quasar can persist in its destructive assault.”

A paper detailing these findings was published today in the journal Nature.

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S. Balashev et al. Quasar radiation transforms gas in a merged companion galaxy. Nature Published online on May 21, 2025. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08966-4

Source: www.sci.news

Discovery of a Massive Wandering Black Hole Located 600 Million Light-Years Away

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The discovery of this superwalled black hole was made possible by the newly identified tidal disruption event, AT2024TVD.

Tidal Disruption Event AT2024TVD. Image credits: NASA/CXC/University of California, Berkeley/Yao et al. /ESA /STSCI /HST /J. DEPASQUALE.

“A tidal disruption event (TDE) occurs when stars are either stretched or ‘spaghettified’ by the immense gravitational forces of black holes,” explained UC Berkeley researcher Dr. Yuhanyao.

“The remnants of the torn-apart stars are pulled into a circular orbit around the black hole.”

“This process creates high-temperature shocks and emissions that can be detected in ultraviolet and visible light.”

The AT2024TVD event enabled astronomers to utilize the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to identify elusive wandering supermassive black holes, supported by observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Interestingly, these 1 million rogue black holes are often found to be supermassive and actively consuming surrounding material.

Among the roughly 100 TDEs recorded by the Light Sky Survey, this marks the first instance of an offset TDE being identified.

In fact, at the center of the host galaxy lie ultra-massive black holes differing in mass by 100 million solar masses.

Hubble’s optical precision indicates that the TDE is located just 2,600 light-years from the larger black holes at the galaxy’s core.

This distance is comparable to just one minute of the span between our Sun and the central ultra-massive black hole of the Milky Way.

The larger black hole expels energy as it accumulates material, classifying it as an active galactic nucleus.

Interestingly, the two supermassive black holes exist within the same galaxy but are not gravitationally linked like a binary pair.

Smaller black holes can potentially spiral toward the center of the galaxy, eventually merging with their larger counterparts.

However, at this point, they are too distant to be bound by gravity.

“AT2024TVD is the first offset TDE captured through optical observations, opening up new possibilities for studying this elusive population of black holes in future surveys,” Dr. Yao remarked.

“Currently, theorists have not focused extensively on offset TDEs.

“I believe this discovery will drive scientists to search for more instances of this type of event.”

The black holes responsible for AT2024TVD are traversing the bulges of gigantic galaxies.

Black holes periodically consume stars every tens of thousands of years, lying dormant until their next “meal” arrives.

How did the black hole become displaced from the center? Previous studies suggest that three-body interactions can eject lower-mass black holes from a galaxy’s core.

This theory may apply here, given its proximity to the central black hole.

“If a black hole undergoes a three-body interaction with two other black holes in the galaxy’s core, it can remain bound to the galaxy and orbit the central region,” explained Dr. Yao.

Another possibility is that these black holes are remnants from a smaller galaxy that merged with the host galaxy over a billion years ago.

In such a case, the black hole could eventually merge with the central active black hole in the distant future. As of now, astronomers remain uncertain about its trajectory.

“There is already substantial evidence that the galaxy will increase its TDE rate, but the presence of a second black hole associated with AT2024TVD suggests a past merger has occurred.”

The team’s survey results will be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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Yuhan Yao et al. 2025. A massive black hole located 0.8 kpc from the host nucleus. apjl in press; Arxiv: 2502.17661

Source: www.sci.news