Colossal “burp”. Gamma-ray burst detected in black hole M87*

Astronomers have captured an extraordinary burst of high-energy radiation from the famous M87* black hole, providing new insights into one of the most powerful cosmic engines in the Universe.

In 2018, scientists accomplished a historic feat when they photographed the first image of a supermassive black holelocated in the heart of the M87 galaxy. The milestone was made possible thanks to the international collaboration of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), which brought together telescopes around the world to observe the galactic nucleus.

Recently, a team of astronomers discovered something even more surprising: the black hole triggered a gamma ray burstwhich happens when powerful high-speed plasma jets are expelled from their poles.

According to , the gamma ray burst was detected during the same observation campaign that resulted in the famous image of the black hole.

Giacomo Principe, an astrophysicist at the University of Trieste, in Italy, revealed, in a statement, that this was the first detection of the explosion in the M87 galaxy in more than a decadea piece of data that provides new information about the region that produced the energy emission.

These observations will help scientists better understand the behavior of gamma-ray sources in distant galaxies, increasing human knowledge about black holes and the extreme phenomena associated with them.

The jet analyzed by experts extends to sizes tens of millions of times larger than the black hole’s event horizon, a difference comparable to that between a bacteria and the largest known blue whale.

The energy explosion itself lasted approximately three days and originated in a region less than three light-days in diameter, approximately 170 times the distance between the Sun and Earth.

Scientists believe that the gamma-ray bursts observed in these regions are caused by acceleration of material bubbles at high energies within the jets, which causes highly unpredictable bursts of gamma-ray radiation.

The was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.