Kayaker Swallowed by Whale, Survives to Tell the Tale

A new image from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) reveals a supermassive black hole in the spiral galaxy NGC 4945, located over 12 million light-years from Earth, actively ejecting powerful jets of material into interstellar space. According to the European Southern Observatory (ESO), this black hole is consuming large amounts of matter and producing galactic winds that scatter “scraps” of material throughout the cosmos. The VLT, situated in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, provided detailed observations showing that the winds, represented as bright, cone-shaped jets, are moving at such high speeds that the gas and dust can escape the galaxy before being consumed. “This messy eater, contrary to a black hole's typical all-consuming reputation, is blowing out powerful winds of material,” ESO officials noted in their March 31 statement. This research, published in Nature Astronomy, sheds light on how such winds impact galaxy formation and evolution. The black hole's powerful jets may inhibit star formation by ejecting crucial materials, demonstrating that energetic black holes can influence their own growth by limiting the resources they consume.

A team of astronomers has identified a supermassive black hole located 12.9 billion light years away, dating back to a period when the universe was merely 800 million years old. Using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) telescope in Chile, researchers detected radio signals from hot gas surrounding the black hole, revealing important insights into the early universe, according to a study published in Nature Astronomy. The black hole, named J231038.88+185519.7, is estimated to be 2 to 4 billion times the mass of the Sun. Researcher Takafumi Tsukui from the Australian National University stated, “This discovery will help us understand how black holes evolve into supermassive black holes from small seeds in the early universe." The findings suggest that many supermassive black holes lie hidden in gas and dust, and the radio signals detected by ALMA offer a new method to uncover these elusive cosmic giants. The study highlights the potential of targeting high-energy states of carbon monoxide to gain a clearer picture of black holes in the early universe.

A team of astronomers has recorded the hottest nova explosion ever observed, named LMCN 1968-12a, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. This recurrent nova, first discovered in 1968, has been erupting approximately every four years, with the latest explosion occurring in August 2024. Findings were reported in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Utilizing the Magellan Baade and Gemini South telescopes in Chile, researchers conducted observations in near-infrared light shortly after the outburst. The results indicated that the expelled gas reached temperatures of 5.4 million degrees Fahrenheit, supported by a significant spike in ionized silicon brightness, which was 95 times greater than sunlight. This extreme heat and unique chemical composition suggest important differences from novas observed in the Milky Way. The astrophysical dynamics involved stem from the white dwarf's interaction with a red subgiant companion star, showing how low-metallicity environments influence nova activity, according to study co-author Sumner Starrfield from Arizona State University.