Latest news with #quasar
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists spot high-speed galaxy collision 11 billion light-years away: 'We hence call this system the cosmic joust'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Using a telescope in Chile, astronomers have captured a high-speed collision between two galaxies located more than 11 billion light-years away, getting a rare direct glimpse into how the universe's most luminous sources of energy, known as quasars, can sculpt their surroundings and influence the evolution of galaxies. The new findings describe a galactic battle between the galaxy on the right in the image above, which hosts an actively feeding black hole, a quasar, at its center, and its neighbor on the left, which is being bombarded by intense radiation that disrupts its ability to form new stars. "We hence call this system the 'cosmic joust,'" Pasquier Noterdaeme, a researcher at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris in France, who co-led the new study, said in a statement. Named J012555.11−012925.00, the quasar is generally so bright that it outshines its surroundings, dominating optical images as a single point of light. However, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a network of 66 radio dishes in the Chilean Andes working together as one giant telescope, astronomers were able to distinguish the second galaxy. The observations revealed the companion galaxy is moving toward the quasar-hosting galaxy at about 1.2 million miles per hour (2 million kilometers per hour), indicating the two are in the midst of a high-speed collision. To study how the quasar's radiation affects the companion galaxy, the researchers used the X-shooter instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT), also located in Chile. By analyzing the quasar's light as it passed through the other galaxy, they found the radiation blasts apart the gas in the companion galaxy, leaving behind compact cloudlets that are too small to form new stars. Related Stories: — Why do dwarf galaxies line up? 'Zippers' and 'twisters' in the early universe may solve a galactic mystery — Scientists calculate when the universe will end — it's sooner than expected — Amateur astrophotographer captures a stunning galaxy 24 million light-years from Earth (photo) "We see for the first time the effect of a quasar's radiation directly on the internal structure of the gas in an otherwise regular galaxy," Sergei Balashev, a researcher at the Ioffe Institute in Russia, who co-led the study, said in the statement. The gravitational forces at play are also pulling more gas toward the black hole, allowing it to continue feeding and powering the quasar, the study found. "These mergers are thought to bring huge amounts of gas to supermassive black holes residing in galaxy centres," said Balashev. The study was published on Wednesday (May 21) in the journal Nature.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Astronomers saw one galaxy impale another. The damage was an eye-opener.
Two extremely distant galaxies appear to be ramming into each other over and over again at speeds of over 1 million mph. The pair — dueling it out 11 billion light-years away in space — has given astronomers their first detailed look at a galaxy merger in which one impales another with intense radiation. The armed galaxy's lance is a quasar, a portmanteau for "quasi-stellar object." "We hence call this system the 'cosmic joust,'" said Pasquier Noterdaeme, one of the researchers from the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, in a statement. A quasar is a blindingly bright galaxy core — brighter than all of the galaxy's starlight combined, according to NASA. Through telescopes, these sometimes look like a single star in the sky, but they're actually beams of light from a feasting black hole at a galaxy's core. Scientists have suspected quasars may "turn on the lights" when two galaxies crash into each other. But finding direct proof has been challenging. Not only did the new observations show how a cosmic collision helps a quasar light up, it also revealed that the quasar can be a weapon of mass destruction, snuffing out another galaxy's ability to form new stars. These findings, published in the journal Nature, may help scientists better understand how supermassive black holes can shape the fates of other entire galaxies. SEE ALSO: Hubble spots a roaming black hole light-years from where it belongs A galaxy's quasar, right, snuffs out another galaxy's ability to form new stars in this artist's rendering. Credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser illustration When astronomer Maarten Schmidt found the first quasar in 1963, it looked like a star, though it was much too far away for that to have been the source. Scientists have since learned that quasars are relics of a much earlier time in the universe. The nearest quasars to Earth are still several hundred million light-years away, meaning they are observed now as they were hundreds of millions of years ago. That quasars aren't found closer to home is a clue they existed when the universe was much younger. But scientists seek them out for studies because they may provide insight into the evolution of the universe. Though the research team saw the collision as if it was happening now, it occurred long ago, when the universe was only 18 percent of its current age. That's possible because extremely distant light and other forms of radiation take time to reach our telescopes, meaning astronomers see their targets as they were in the past. "We hence call this system the 'cosmic joust.'" To conduct the study, an international team of astronomers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, both peering up at the sky from the Chilean desert. Their research supports a long-held theory: that galaxy mergers can trigger quasars, and that the energy from them can alter their surroundings in powerful ways. "Here we see for the first time the effect of a quasar's radiation directly on the internal structure of the gas in an otherwise regular galaxy," said co-author Sergei Balashev, a researcher at the Ioffe Institute in Russia, in a statement. The gas that would usually feed star-making activity within the wounded galaxy was transformed: Rather than being dispersed evenly in large loose clouds, the quasar's radiation clumped the gas in super tiny, dense pockets, rendering it useless for star births. This suggests the quasar's energy effectively sterilized the galaxy — at least wherever the radiation hit. Black holes in general are some of the most inscrutable things in the cosmos. Astronomers believe these invisible giants skulk at the center of virtually all galaxies. Falling into one is an automatic death sentence. Any cosmic stuff that wanders too close reaches a point of no return. A wide view of the two galaxies on the verge of merging, dubbed "the cosmis joust," in the distant universe. Credit: DESI Legacy Survey But scientists have observed something weird at the edge of black holes' accretion disks, the rings of rapidly spinning material around the holes: A tiny amount of the material can suddenly get rerouted. When this happens, high-energy particles get flung outward as a pair of jets, blasting in opposite directions, though astronomers haven't quite figured out how it all works. It's also still a mystery as to when exactly in cosmic history the universe started making them. The quasar didn't just affect the other galaxy. The sparring apparently allowed new reserves of fuel to flow into the galaxy hosting the quasar, bringing fresh gas within reach of the supermassive black hole powering it. As the black hole eats the material, it perpetuates the violence. "These mergers are thought to bring huge amounts of gas to supermassive black holes residing in galaxy centers," Balashev said.
Reuters
21-05-2025
- Science
- Reuters
Two galaxies seen in a 'joust' preceding a cosmic mega-merger
WASHINGTON, May 21 (Reuters) - Astronomers have observed two distant galaxies - both possessing roughly as many stars as our Milky Way - careening toward each other before their inevitable merger at a time when the universe was about a fifth its current age, a scene resembling two knights charging in a joust. The galaxies, observed using two Chile-based telescopes, were seen as they existed about 11.4 billion years ago, approximately 2.4 billion years after the Big Bang event that initiated the universe. At the heart of one of the galaxies resides a quasar, a highly luminous object powered by gas and other material falling into a supermassive black hole. The intense radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum unleashed by the quasar is seen disrupting clouds of gas and dust, known as molecular clouds, in the other galaxy. It is molecular clouds that give rise to stars. But the effects of the quasar's radiation turned the clouds in the affected region into "only tiny dense cloudlets that are too small to form stars," said astrophysicist Sergei Balashev of the Ioffe Institute in Saint Petersburg, Russia, co-lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, opens new tab. This is the first time such a phenomenon has been observed, Balashev said. Stars form by the slow contraction under gravity of these clouds, with small centers taking shape that heat up and become new stars. But the galaxy affected by the quasar's radiation was left with fewer regions that could serve as such stellar nurseries, undermining its star formation rate. The interaction between the two galaxies reminded the researchers of a medieval joust. "Much like jousting knights charging toward one another, these galaxies are rapidly approaching. One of them - the quasar host - emits a powerful beam of radiation that pierces the companion galaxy, like a lance. This radiation 'wounds' its 'opponent' as it disrupts the gas," said astronomer and co-lead author Pasquier Noterdaeme of the Paris Institute of Astrophysics in France. Supermassive black holes are found at the heart of many galaxies, including the Milky Way. The researchers estimated the mass of the one that serves as the engine of the quasar studied in this research at about 200 million times that of our sun. The intense gravitational strength of the supermassive black hole pulls gas and other material toward it. As this stuff spirals inward at high speed, it heats up due to friction, forming a disk that emits extremely powerful radiation in two opposite directions, called biconical beams. The ultraviolet light from one of these beams is what played havoc with the gas in the companion galaxy. This supermassive black hole is much more massive than the one at the center of the Milky Way - called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* - which possesses roughly 4 million times the mass of the sun and is located about 26,000 light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The researchers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, to characterize the two galaxies and used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, or VLT, to probe the quasar as well as the gas in the companion galaxy. The configuration of the galaxies as viewed from the perspective of Earth enabled the researchers to observe the radiation from the quasar passing directly through the companion galaxy. Most galactic mergers that have been observed by astronomers occurred later in the history of the universe. "Galaxies are typically found in groups, and gravitational interactions naturally lead to mergers over cosmic time," Noterdaeme said. "In line with current understanding, these two galaxies will eventually coalesce into a single larger galaxy. The quasar will fade as it exhausts the available fuel."
CNA
21-05-2025
- Science
- CNA
Two galaxies seen in a 'joust' preceding a cosmic mega-merger
WASHINGTON : Astronomers have observed two distant galaxies - both possessing roughly as many stars as our Milky Way - careening toward each other before their inevitable merger at a time when the universe was about a fifth its current age, a scene resembling two knights charging in a joust. The galaxies, observed using two Chile-based telescopes, were seen as they existed about 11.4 billion years ago, approximately 2.4 billion years after the Big Bang event that initiated the universe. At the heart of one of the galaxies resides a quasar, a highly luminous object powered by gas and other material falling into a supermassive black hole. The intense radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum unleashed by the quasar is seen disrupting clouds of gas and dust, known as molecular clouds, in the other galaxy. It is molecular clouds that give rise to stars. But the effects of the quasar's radiation turned the clouds in the affected region into "only tiny dense cloudlets that are too small to form stars," said astrophysicist Sergei Balashev of the Ioffe Institute in Saint Petersburg, Russia, co-lead author of the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. This is the first time such a phenomenon has been observed, Balashev said. Stars form by the slow contraction under gravity of these clouds, with small centers taking shape that heat up and become new stars. But the galaxy affected by the quasar's radiation was left with fewer regions that could serve as such stellar nurseries, undermining its star formation rate. The interaction between the two galaxies reminded the researchers of a medieval joust. "Much like jousting knights charging toward one another, these galaxies are rapidly approaching. One of them - the quasar host - emits a powerful beam of radiation that pierces the companion galaxy, like a lance. This radiation 'wounds' its 'opponent' as it disrupts the gas," said astronomer and co-lead author Pasquier Noterdaeme of the Paris Institute of Astrophysics in France. Supermassive black holes are found at the heart of many galaxies, including the Milky Way. The researchers estimated the mass of the one that serves as the engine of the quasar studied in this research at about 200 million times that of our sun. The intense gravitational strength of the supermassive black hole pulls gas and other material toward it. As this stuff spirals inward at high speed, it heats up due to friction, forming a disk that emits extremely powerful radiation in two opposite directions, called biconical beams. The ultraviolet light from one of these beams is what played havoc with the gas in the companion galaxy. This supermassive black hole is much more massive than the one at the center of the Milky Way - called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* - which possesses roughly 4 million times the mass of the sun and is located about 26,000 light-years from Earth. A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km). The researchers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, to characterize the two galaxies and used the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, or VLT, to probe the quasar as well as the gas in the companion galaxy. The configuration of the galaxies as viewed from the perspective of Earth enabled the researchers to observe the radiation from the quasar passing directly through the companion galaxy. Most galactic mergers that have been observed by astronomers occurred later in the history of the universe. "Galaxies are typically found in groups, and gravitational interactions naturally lead to mergers over cosmic time," Noterdaeme said. "In line with current understanding, these two galaxies will eventually coalesce into a single larger galaxy. The quasar will fade as it exhausts the available fuel."
Gizmodo
21-05-2025
- Science
- Gizmodo
Astronomers Witness Galaxy Shanking Its Rival With a Beam of Radiation
In the cold, ancient reaches of the cosmos, two galaxies are duking it out in a battle that's been raging for billions of years. But it's not a fair fight, a team of astronomers recently found, as one of the galaxies is using a quasar to pierce the other, severely hampering its development. The team observed the 'cosmic joust,' as they've dubbed the interaction, using Chile's Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. The researchers witnessed something bizarre: one galaxy shooting a beam of radiation directly into another, disrupting its ability to form new stars. The team's results, published today in Nature, offer a front-row seat to some of the most intense intergalactic violence the universe has to offer. The interaction is so distant that the light in the images took 11 billion years to reach us. The cosmic conflagration appears just as it did when the universe was just 18% of its current age. Though they appear plain and inert in the above image, the galaxies are actually hurtling towards one another at over 311 miles per second (500 kilometers per second). 'We discovered a quasar—likely triggered by the merging of two galaxies—that is actively transforming the gas structure in its companion galaxy,' Pasquier Noterdaeme, a CNRS researcher at the Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris and lead author of the paper, told Gizmodo in an email. 'The idea that galaxy mergers give rise to quasars has long been proposed, mainly supported by statistical studies of host galaxy morphologies,' Noterdaeme added. 'In our case, we caught the two galaxies in the act.' The team found that radiation from one galaxy's quasar—an active galactic core powered by a supermassive black hole—was disrupting regions in the other galaxy. That energy is shooting straight into the other galaxy like a lance, slicing through clouds of gas and dust. Because of the disturbance, the researchers say, the regions are probably too small to form new stars; the quasar-wielding galaxy effectively sabotaged its opponent's ability to birth new light. 'We see for the first time the effect of a quasar's radiation directly on the internal structure of the gas in an otherwise regular galaxy,' said Sergei Balashev, co-lead author of the study and a researcher at the Ioffe Institute in Russia, in an ESO release. But the galaxy with the quasar isn't just chipping away at the other—it's also transforming itself. As the galaxies brush past one another, the interaction funnels gas toward the quasar's central black hole, fueling it for more violent outbursts. The unique interaction was made visible thanks to ALMA's high resolution, which allowed astronomers to see that the light source in deep space was actually two galaxies (previous observations made the closely spaced objects appear as a single entity). ESO's X-shooter scrutinized the quasar's light, helping the researchers understand how the radiation affected the other galaxy. There's more to discover beyond the horizon—and I'm not talking about the event horizon. Instruments like the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) could let scientists dissect even more of these ancient galactic brawls, giving us a clearer picture of how quasars shape the galaxies they live in—and destroy the ones they don't.
