FOR Jellyfish galaxy it is an exotic type of doomed and disturbed galaxy normally seen within clusters, which are immense structures that house hundreds to thousands of bright galactic components. Indeed, jellyfish They have been detected inhabiting various galaxy clusters, and are spectacular objects that undergo a dramatic sea change as they collide with the dense core of their host cluster at supersonic speeds, displaying bright flashes along a bright tail of gas. In July 2019, a team of astronomers announced that they had observed firsthand the sinister role that an excited supermassive black hole I was playing in the “murder” of an exotic Jellyfish galaxy. The supermassive heart of darkness, lurking in the center of the jellyfish nicknamed JO201, is starting gas and throwing it into space. In doing so, the black hole is accelerating the tragic extinction of the birth of a baby star. This means that the black hole is in the process of “assassinating” the exotic doomed galaxy.
Clusters of galaxies are the largest known gravitationally bound structures in the Universe. In fact, galaxy clusters were believed to be the largest known structures in the Universe until the 1980s, when the galaxy superclusters they were discovered for the first time. One of the most important attributes of galaxy clusters is the intracluster medium (ICM), which is made up of heated gas that floats in the space between galaxies (intergalactic space). Tea ICM generally has maximum temperatures between 2-15 Kelvin, and these temperatures depend on the total mass of the cluster. The smallest collections of galaxies are generally called groups, instead of groups. Groups and clusters of galaxies can come together to create superclusters.
It is commonly thought that most, if not all, large galaxies have a voracious supermassive black hole in their hearts. These gravitational monsters can weigh millions to billions of times the solar mass, and their collections of Jellyfish galaxies are characterized by ram pressure removing gas from the galaxy victimized by the ICM. Ram pressure it is exerted on a body traveling through a fluid medium, caused by relative volume motion of the fluid rather than random thermal motion. It causes a drag force to be exerted on the body.
Ravenous supermassive black holes feed jellyfish
In 2017, observations from Jellyfish galaxies with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) revealed a previously unknown way that supermassive black holes eat dinner. The mechanism that forms the characteristic tentacles of gaseous and newborn stars (protostars) that inspired astronomers to give Jellyfish galaxies its nickname also makes it possible for gas to reach the central regions of galaxies. In this central region, where the hungry black hole lurks in a sinister secret, the falling feast glows brightly as it falls to its doom.
A team of astronomers led by Italy used the MUSE (Multi-unit spectroscopic explorer) instrument in the VLT to ESO Paranal Observatory in Chile to study how gas can be removed from galaxies. Scientists focused on extreme examples of exotics Jellyfish galaxies inhabiting nearby galaxy clusters, whose material “tentacles” extend for tens of thousands of light-years beyond their galactic disks.
The “tentacles” of jellyfish are formed in galaxies by ram pressure peel. Their mutual gravitational attraction causes galaxies to plummet at high speed into clusters, where they then encounter dense, scorching gas. This gas acts like a fierce wind that blows tails of gas from the disk of the galaxy. This powerful wind also triggers starbursts within it.
Seven Jellyfish galaxies were observed for this study, and six of them were found to harbor a supermassive black hole in their hearts, feeding viciously on the surrounding gas. This fraction is surprisingly high, because among galaxies in general the fraction is less than one in ten.
“The strong link between ram pressure removal and active black holes was not predicted and has never been reported before. It appears that the central black hole is feeding because some of the gas, rather than being removed, is reaching the center. of the galaxy, “he explained. team leader Dr. Bianca Poggianti on an August 16, 2017 ESO press release. Dr. Poggianti is from INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Padua in Italy.
A long-standing mystery is why only a small percentage of the supermassive black holes lurking at the centers of galaxies are active. Since these gravitational beasts inhabit almost all galaxies, why do only a few accumulate matter and glow brightly? The result of this 2017 study is important because it reveals a previously unknown mechanism that powers a central black hole.
“Thesis MUSE The observations suggest a novel mechanism for the gas to funnel into the vicinity of the black hole. This result is important because it provides a new piece in the puzzle of poorly understood connections between supermassive black holes and their host galaxies, “commented Dr. Yara Jaffe on August 16, 2017. ESO press release. Dr. Jaffee is a THAT partner who contributed to the newspaper.
These observations are part of a much more extensive investigation of many more Jellyfish galaxies which is currently in progress.
“This study, when completed, will reveal how many and which gas-rich galaxies entering clusters go through a period of increased activity in their nuclei. A long-standing puzzle in astronomy has been understanding how galaxies form and change in our expanding and evolving Universe. Jellyfish galaxies they are the key to understanding galaxy evolution, as they are galaxies caught in the middle of a dramatic transformation, “added Dr. Poggianti.
The tragic death of the jellyfish JO201
The tragic fate of JO201 Jellyfish Galaxy was revealed as part of the study aimed at 114 Jellyfish galaxies for him GASP (GAs Stripping phenomena) collaboration, an international team of astronomers led by Dr. Poggianti.
To explore the structure of the Jellyfish galaxies in 3D and calculating the timescales of its transformation, Dr Callum Bellhouse from the University of Birmingham in the UK created interactive models that can also be experienced in virtual reality. Dr. Bellhouse presented the new findings at the National Astronomy Meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) held in Lancaster, UK, on July 3, 2019.
According to the new findings, JO201 it was originally a spiral galaxy like our own Milky Way shaped like a pinwheel and illuminated by the stars. However, the unfortunate JO201 has been sinking through the huge galaxy cluster called Abell 85 at supersonic speeds for about a billion years. How is it condemned jellyfish zippers along the line of sight, its tentacles appear shortened on the model. However, the team of astronomers estimates that the tentacles actually follow 94 parsecs behind. JO201– which is about three times the diameter of our large galaxy.
“A galaxy sustains itself by constantly forming new stars from the gas, so understanding how gas flows to and from a galaxy helps us learn how it evolves. The example of JO201 shows how the balance tips then and away from the star formation as it plunges through the galaxy cluster and faces increasingly extreme extraction of its gas, “explained Dr. Bellhouse in a March 3 July 2019. RAS press release.
JO201’s sea change from a spiral to a Jellyfish galaxy caused a short-lived increase in the birth of baby stars, as a result of the stripping by ram pressure process. The compressed clouds of gas collapsed and then created a ring of stars in the disk of the galaxy. Inside the tentacles, dense droplets of gas condensed like rain clouds on Earth. This triggered the formation of bright new fiery baby stars in the galaxy’s wake.
Unfortunately, in the last hundreds of millions of years, the active and voracious supermassive black hole appears to have ripped off the gas, thus leaving a large void around the center of the galaxy’s disk. The team of astronomers proposes that the stripping by ram pressure It may have forced gas into the central regions of the galaxy, where it caused the black hole to eject material. This unleashed a shock wave that left behind a cavity of gossip.
“There is an important balancing act between the processes that increase or decrease the rate of star formation in Jellyfish galaxies. In the case of JO201, the central black hole is excited by the stripping by ram pressure and begins to gas. This means that the galaxy is being emptied from the inside, as well as being ripped away from the outside, “explained Dr. Bellhouse on July 3, 2019. RAS press release.
“JO201 is, so far, a unique example of a supermassive black hole and stripping by ram pressure in the extinction of star formation in a Jellyfish galaxy. Studying these curious objects gives us insight into the complex processes that galaxies undergo, “added Dr. Bellhouse.