A groundbreaking discovery has been made by astronomers who witnessed a supermassive black hole waking up and igniting the heart of its host galaxy for the first time. The galaxy, located 300 million light years away in the constellation Virgo, had been dormant for many years until it suddenly began shining brighter than ever in late 2019.
The center of the galaxy, believed to house a supermassive black hole, has been emitting a wide range of radiation, a phenomenon that has puzzled astronomers. Typically, supermassive black holes are dormant and only become visible when they consume something that emits light like a star. However, in the case of the galaxy SDSS1335+0728, the black hole suddenly became very bright by feeding on gas in its surroundings.
Chilean astronomer Paula Sánchez Saez, the main author of the study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, expressed how unprecedented this behavior is. Lorena Hernández García, a co-author of the study, suggested that the bright glow observed may be due to the activation of the supermassive black hole. Researchers are now studying data from various telescopes to understand whether the black hole’s activity is temporary or if it will remain active for an extended period.
Astronomers are particularly interested in understanding whether similar phenomena could occur in our own galaxy,