FOCUS ON X-RAY VIEW SHOWS HOW SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLES SPEED UP PARTICLES IN JETS

Blazars are powered by immensely active galactic centres that fire beams of particles into space

Keith Cooper

Peering deep into the heart of a blazar, astronomers have learned how particles are being accelerated to close to the speed of light, racing away in a jet emanating from near the blazar’s monstrous supermassive black hole. Blazars are quasars seen head-on; a quasar is an extremely active galactic nucleus (AGN) that is powered by a black hole accreting vast amounts of matter. The matter circles around the black hole in an accretion disc, where conditions are so extreme that the disc shines at millions of degrees. Tightly entwined magnetic fields wrapped up in the disc are able to funnel away some of the material in tightly collimated jets shooting away from the centre of the accretion disc in either direction. The charged particles in these jets spiral around the…

You're reading a preview of

All About Space Annual (Digital) - 1 Issue, All About Space Annual (2024)

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.