Warm Gas Near A Supermassive Black Hole: Key To Finding Early Universe Hidden Black Holes

An international team using ALMA detected high-resolution radio signals from warm gas surrounding a supermassive black hole (SMBH) dating back about 13 billion years, when the Universe was very young.

The warm gas, detected thanks to high-energy carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, is organized in a disk-like structure around the black hole, inside the quasar J2310+1855, an extremely luminous object powered by the intense activity of the black hole itself.

This observation is significant because many SMBHs in the early Universe are hidden by thick clouds of cosmic dust, which block visible light and X-rays, making them difficult to detect. However, the radio waves emitted by the warm gas and detected by ALMA are not absorbed by the dust, thus offering a new technique to find them.

The technique opens, in fact, a window into the early universe, allowing researchers to explore SMBHs when the universe was less than a billion years old, offering clues about their growth and the evolution of galaxies.

In this case, the black hole has an estimated mass greater than a billion times that of our Sun. The research team observed it, highlighting how the X-rays emitted by the quasar heat the surrounding gas to extreme temperatures.

This discovery not only allows scientists to study the conditions near black holes in the early universe, but could also help them understand how black holes formed and evolved. The researchers plan to apply this technique to other objects to obtain a more complete census of hidden black holes and delve deeper into their history.

In essence, the discovery of warm gas around a SMBH 12.9 billion light-years away represents a step forward in identifying hidden black holes and understanding their role in the young universe, thanks to the unique capabilities of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).

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Image: This illustration shows how intense X-ray radiation from the vicinity of a SMBH heats the surrounding gas. When viewed from the side, visible light and X-rays are blocked by the disk, effectively hiding the SMBH.

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), K. Tadaki et al.

References

ALMA Press Release

Scientific paper: Warm gas in the vicinity of a supermassive black hole 13 billion years ago 

A Rare Astronomical Event: A Triple Eclipse On Jupiter

This breathtaking image, taken by Hubble on 28 March 2004, shows a truly fascinating astronomical event: a rare triple eclipse on Jupiter due to an equally rare alignment of three of its largest moons– Io, Ganymede, Callisto – across the planet's face.

At first glance, Jupiter appears to have five distinct spots on its upper surface: one white, one blue, and three black.

In reality, Io is the white circle in the center, and Ganymede is the blue circle. Callisto is out of the image and to the right, and so not visible. The three black circles are the shadows cast by the three moons.

In fact, the shadows of Io, Ganymede, and Callisto are visible because the three moons, lying between Jupiter and the Sun, block sunlight and create an effect similar to a solar eclipse on Earth.

Io's shadow is just above the center and slightly to the left;

Ganymede's shadow is on the left limb of the planet; Callisto's shadow is near the right edge.

The image, taken with Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), which operates in the near-infrared, explains Jupiter's pastel colors, different from those we see with the naked eye or in visible light.

The image is particularly captivating and significant both visually and scientifically.

A triple eclipse on Jupiter, in which the shadows of three moons simultaneously cross the planet's disk, is a rare phenomenon, occurring only once or twice every ten years, due to the different orbital periods of the moons. Furthermore, in this particular image, Io and Ganymede cross Jupiter's disk at the same time as the three shadows: an even rarer event.

The event, captured in this image, provides a unique opportunity to observe the interactions between Jupiter and its Galilean moons (including Europa, not visible here). The moons' shadows and positions allow scientists to analyze their orbits, sizes, and physical characteristics.

Shadows cast on Jupiter's layers of cloud provide contrast that helps scientists study the structure and composition of its atmosphere. Sunlight, filtered through Jupiter's atmosphere and visible around the shadows, can reveal details about particles and gases in the upper clouds.

The parallel between this type of eclipse on Jupiter and solar eclipses on Earth allows astronomers to delve into the dynamics of eclipses in settings other than our Earth-Moon system.

This event, captured by Hubble, is a testament to the beauty and complexity of our cosmic neighborhood.

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Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)

Reference and Image Source  

Most Galaxies In The Deep Universe Appear To Rotate In The Same Direction

 

A recent study, using data from JWST, analyzed the rotation of 263 distant galaxies, surprisingly finding that about 2/3 of them rotate clockwise, while only 1/3 rotates counterclockwise.

This imbalance challenges current cosmological theories, which predict a more or less equal distribution of the rotation directions of galaxies in an isotropic universe, that is, without a preferred direction.

The study was led by Lior Shamir, associate professor of computer science at Kansas State University, as part of the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES) program.Shamir used high-resolution images from JWST to study the galaxies' shapes and determine their rotation direction. The difference between the number of galaxies rotating clockwise and counterclockwise becomes even more pronounced when observing galaxies at greater distances, corresponding to older times in the universe.

The study suggests that this asymmetry may not be random and raises fundamental questions about the structure and origin of the universe. According to Shamir, there are two primary possible explanations for this phenomenon:

- The universe itself could have been born with an intrinsic rotation, an idea that contradicts the standard cosmological model according to which the universe is isotropic and homogeneous. If confirmed, this theory would imply that our current knowledge of the cosmos is incomplete and requires revision.

- The rotation of the Earth around the center of the Milky Way could influence observations. Light from galaxies, rotating in the opposite direction to the Earth's motion, appears brighter due to the Doppler effect, leading to an overrepresentation of these galaxies in the data. If this hypothesis is correct, measurements of cosmic distances could be incorrect and would require recalibration.

From a scientific perspective, this discovery is significant because it calls into question some of the foundations of modern cosmology. The standard model of the universe, based on the cosmological principle of homogeneity and isotropy, predicts that galaxies have randomly distributed directions of rotation. The observation of such a strong asymmetry could indicate that the universe has a "preferential direction" or that the physical processes, governing the formation of galaxies ,are more complex than previously thought. Furthermore, if the universe was born in rotation, this could link to speculative theories, such as that our universe is inside a rotating black hole, an idea proposed by some theoretical physicists.

Another important aspect is that this asymmetry increases with distance: the further back in time you look (and therefore further into space), the greater the imbalance. This suggests that the phenomenon could be linked to the initial conditions of the universe, offering a unique window to study the Big Bang and cosmic evolution.

Practically speaking, Shamir's results could have direct implications for observational astronomy. If the asymmetry is due to a bias related to the rotation of the Milky Way, as suggested by the Doppler effect, this would mean that measurements of the distances to distant galaxies – which are essential for calculating the expansion rate of the universe (the Hubble constant) – could be inaccurate. A recalibration of these measurements could resolve some known discrepancies in cosmology, such as differences in the values of the Hubble constant measured by different methods or the existence of galaxies apparently older than the universe itself according to current estimates.

In addition, the James Webb Telescope, with its ability to observe distant galaxies in unprecedented detail, remains a game-changer. This study demonstrates how its technology can not only confirm existing theories, but also raise new questions that push the limits of our understanding of the cosmos.

In essence, Shamir's study highlights a fascinating and potentially revolutionary anomaly: most of the galaxies observed by JWST appear to be rotating in the same direction, an observation that could reflect a fundamental property of the universe or an error in our measurement techniques. Scientifically, it opens the way for new research to test these hypotheses and delve deeper into the nature of the cosmos. In practice, it could lead to a revision of the methods by which we measure the universe, improving the precision of our cosmic maps.

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References

K-State press release

Science paper 

Image description: "Spiral galaxies imaged by JWST that rotate in the same direction relative to the Milky Way (red) and in the opposite direction relative to the Milky Way (blue). The number of galaxies rotating in the opposite direction relative to the Milky Way as observed from Earth is far higher (Shamir 2024e)".

Credit: Kansas State University

Devil's Horns: Stunning Eclipse Sunrise Over Persian Gulf

This extraordinary photograph, taken by Elias Chasiotis, captures an unusual sunrise over the Persian Gulf, Qatar: due to a solar eclipse, the Sun appears partially covered by the Moon, creating a shape resembling two “devil's horns” .

To be precise, it was the annular solar eclipse of December 26, 2019 (Saros cycle 132), a phenomenon in which the Moon positions itself between the Earth and the Sun, but is not close enough to completely cover it, leaving a ring of sunlight visible around its edge. Some observers in a narrow strip of land east of Qatar were able to witness a complete annular solar eclipse, in which the Moon appears surrounded by a “ring of fire” from the Sun.

However, in Chasiotis' photo, the eclipse was captured at sunrise, when the Earth's horizon and the position of the Moon helped create this unique shape, different from the full ring typical of an annular eclipse.

This photo highlights a further captivating phenomenon.

Near the top of the Sun, made reddish by the atmosphere, a dark circle can be seen: it is the Moon that partially obscures the Sun during the eclipse. Surprisingly, under this circle there is another dark "peak", also part of the Moon. This effect is due to a rare optical phenomenon: the Earth's atmosphere, in which there was an inversion layer of unusually warm air in the Persian Gulf, acted as a giant refractive lens, creating a second distorted image of the Sun and the Moon. In short a mirage/mirror effect visible in the lower part of the "devil's horns". 

The phenomenon, known as the "Etruscan vase effect", occasionally occurs during normal sunrises or sunsets, but in this case it was amplified by the eclipse.

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Image source

Further reading and references

Etruscan Vase or Omega Sunsets

Solar eclipse of December 26, 2019 

What Is The Mineral Moon?

This photo from Alexandru Barbovschi and Marek Stromayer shows the International Space Station transiting the full mineral Moon as observed from the Republic of Moldovia, on March 26, 2021.

But what is the mineral Moon? Well, it's always our Moon, of course.

Seriously, the mineral Moon is a photography technique which involves capturing wide-field images of our satellite by color sensors, and processing them in order to extrapolate the large amount of information contained in the pics.

This technique was utilized in the early 1990s by Galileo spacecraft that photographed the Moon's colors.

For example, the following image is a mosaic of 53 images, recorded by the Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft as it passed near our Moon in 1992. The pics, recorded through three spectral filters, were combined in an exaggerated false-color scheme.

More at this link.

In summary, different colors of the Moon’s surface  represent different chemical compositions. For instance, blue areas are rich in titanium, orange ones are titanium poor. Regions abundant in titanium are of interest because lunar titanium is bound to oxygen.

The mineral distribution on the lunar surface was mapped in great detail by the US Clementine probe, launched on 25 January 1994.

For over two months Clementine mapped the Moon, producing the first multispectral global digital map of the Moon, the first global topographic map, and contributing several other important scientific discoveries.

To conclude you can produce images of the Moon, showing colors of its surface, without having to launch a spacecraft to do so.

Here is a tutorial, if you are interested. 

First image's source and further reading.