Supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of our galaxy, not only sucks in nearby objects, but also emits powerful radiation. Scientists have long tried to see these rays, but they interfered with the ambient light surrounding the hole. Finally, they were able to break through the noise light with 13 telescopes that are merged into a single powerful system. Subsequently, they were open to interesting information about the previously mysterious light.
To see through the surrounding Sagittarius a* light noise, it was sent to all 13 telescopes. Scientists have revealed differences between the signals from the source falling on each of the telescopes. These data helped to eliminate most of the effect of dispersion and to obtain a clear image of the object. After studying it, researchers have discovered a frightening feature of a black hole, but really it’s no big deal.
It turned out that the radio emission comes from a symmetric source. The beam was more narrow than previously thought, and aimed it directly at our planet, the accuracy reaches one 300-millionth of a degree. Fortunately, scientists claim that the radiation is not dangerous, and that the beam is directed straight on us is a huge plus. By happy accident, scientists have the opportunity to freely explore one of the most interesting features closest-to-Earth supermassive black hole.
Although light scattering blurs and distorts the image of Sagittarius A *, is an incredible observation allowed us to determine the exact properties of the radiation. In the future we will be able to remove most of the interfering effects and see how to look objects near a black hole, — said Michael Johnson, one of the authors of the study.
In the future, scientists intend to study a black hole with an array of telescopes Event Horizon. If in this study the observations were conducted at a frequency of 86 GHz, in the case of the new array, it will be 230 GHz. It turns out that researchers will be able to see more detail and to make more breakthroughs.
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