More recently, science has reliably known what a black hole is. But as soon as scientists figured out this phenomenon of the Universe, a new, much more complex and complicated one fell on them: a supermassive black hole that you can't even call black, but rather dazzling white. Why? But because it was precisely this definition that was given to the center of every galaxy that shines and shines. But it is worth getting there, and apart from blackness, nothing remains. What kind of puzzle is this?
Black Hole Reminder
It is known for certain that a simple black hole is a once shining star. At a certain stage of its existence, its gravitational forces began to increase excessively, while the radius remained the same. If earlier the star was “bursting” and it was growing, now the forces concentrated in its core began to attract all other components. Its edges "fall" to the center, forming an incredible collapse force, which becomes a black hole. Such "former stars" no longer shine, but are absolutely outwardly imperceptible objects of the Universe. But they are very tangible, since they literally absorb everything that falls into their gravitational radius. It is not known what lies behind such a horizon of events. Based on the facts, any body such a huge gravity literally crush. Recently, however, not only science fiction writers, but scientists have been holding the idea that these can be peculiar cosmic tunnels for traveling long distances.
What is a quasar?
A supermassive black hole, in other words, a quasar , has similar properties . This is the core of the galaxy, which has a super-powerful gravitational field that exists due to its mass (millions or billions of solar masses). The principle of the formation of supermassive black holes has not yet been established. According to one version, the cause of this collapse is too compressed gas clouds, the gas in which is extremely discharged, and the temperature is incredibly high. The second version is the increment of the masses of various small black holes, stars and clouds to a single gravitational center.
Our galaxy
A supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way is not among the most powerful. The fact is that the galaxy itself has a spiral structure, which, in turn, forces all its participants to be in constant and fairly fast movement. Thus, gravitational forces, which could be concentrated exclusively in the quasar, are dispersed, as it were, and increase uniformly from the edge to the core. It is easy to guess that things in elliptical or, say, irregular galaxies are the opposite. On the "outskirts" of space is extremely sparse, planets and stars practically do not move. But in the quasar itself, life is literally in full swing.
Milky Way quasar parameters
Using the method of radio interferometry, the researchers were able to calculate the mass of a supermassive black hole, its radius and gravitational force. As noted above, our quasar is dull, it is difficult to call it super-powerful, but even astronomers themselves did not expect the true results to be like that. So, Sagittarius A * (the so-called core) is equivalent to four million solar masses. Moreover, according to obvious data, this black hole does not even absorb matter, and the objects that are in its environment do not heat up. An interesting fact was also noticed: the quasar literally drowns in gas clouds, the matter of which is extremely discharged. Perhaps, at present, the evolution of the supermassive black hole of our galaxy is just beginning, and in billions of years it will become a real giant that will attract not only planetary systems, but also other, smaller star clusters.
No matter how small the mass of our quasar would be, most of all the scientists were struck by its radius. Theoretically, such a distance can be overcome in a few years on one of the modern spacecraft. The dimensions of the supermassive black hole are slightly larger than the average distance from the Earth to the Sun, namely 1.2 astronomical units. The gravitational radius of this quasar is 10 times smaller than the main diameter. With such indicators, of course, matter simply cannot singulate until it directly crosses the event horizon.
Paradoxical facts
The Milky Way Galaxy belongs to the category of young and new star clusters. This is evidenced not only by its age, parameters and position on a space map known to man, but also by the power that its supermassive black hole possesses. However, as it turned out, not only young space objects can have “funny” parameters . Many quasars, which have incredible power and gravity, surprise with their properties:
- Ordinary air often has a higher density than supermassive black holes.
- Once on the horizon, the body will not experience tidal forces. The fact is that the center of the singularity is deep enough, and in order to reach it, you have to go a long way, not even suspecting that there will be no way back.
The giants of our universe
One of the most voluminous and oldest objects in space is the supermassive black hole in the quasar OJ 287. This is a whole lacertis located in the constellation Cancer, which, by the way, is very poorly visible from Earth. It is based on a binary system of black holes, therefore, there are two event horizons and two points of singularity. A large object has a mass of 18 billion solar masses, almost like a small full-fledged galaxy. This companion is static, only objects that fall into its gravitational radius rotate. The smaller system weighs 100 million solar masses and also has a revolution period of 12 years.
Dangerous neighborhood
The OJ 287 galaxies and the Milky Way have been found to be neighbors - the distance between them is approximately 3.5 billion light-years. Astronomers do not exclude the version that in the near future these two cosmic bodies will collide, forming a complex stellar structure. According to one version, it is precisely because of the approach to a similar gravitational giant that the movement of planetary systems in our galaxy is constantly accelerating, and the stars are becoming hotter and more active.
Supermassive black holes are actually white
At the very beginning of the article, a very sensitive issue was raised: the color in which the most powerful quasars appear in front of us can hardly be called black. With the naked eye, even in the simplest photo of any galaxy, it can be seen that its center is a huge white dot. Why then do we think this is a supermassive black hole? Photos taken through telescopes show us a huge cluster of stars, which attracts the core. Planets and asteroids that rotate nearby reflect due to their close proximity, thereby multiplying all the light present nearby. Since quasars do not drag all neighboring objects with lightning speed, but only keep them in their gravitational radius, they do not disappear, but begin to glow even more, because their temperature is growing rapidly. As for the usual black holes that exist in outer space, their name is fully justified. The dimensions are relatively small, but the force of gravity is colossal. They simply "eat" the light, not letting out a single quantum from their banks.
Cinema and supermassive black hole
Gargantua - this term humanity began to be widely used in relation to black holes after the movie "Interstellar" was released. Looking through this picture, it is difficult to understand why this name is chosen and where the connection is. But in the original scenario, they planned to create three black holes, two of which would be called Gargantua and Pantagruel, taken from the satirical novel by Francois Rabelais. After the changes, only one “rabbit hole” remained, for the designation of which the first name was chosen. It is worth noting that in the film the black hole is depicted as realistically as possible. So to speak, the scientist Kip Thorne was engaged in the design of her appearance, which was based on the studied properties of these cosmic bodies.
How did we find out about black holes?
If not for the theory of relativity, which was proposed by Albert Einstein at the beginning of the twentieth century, no one would probably even pay attention to these mysterious objects. A supermassive black hole would be regarded as an ordinary cluster of stars in the center of the galaxy, and ordinary, small ones would have gone unnoticed at all. But today, thanks to theoretical calculations and observations that confirm their correctness, we can observe such a phenomenon as the curvature of space-time. Modern scientists say that finding a "rabbit hole" is not so difficult. Around such an object, matter behaves unnaturally, it not only contracts, but sometimes it also glows. Around the black dot, a bright halo forms, which is visible through the telescope. In many ways, the nature of black holes helps us comprehend the history of the formation of the universe. At their center is a point of singularity, similar to that from which the whole world surrounding us had previously developed.
It is not known for certain what could happen to a person who crosses the event horizon. Will gravity crush him, or will he be in a completely different place? The only thing that can be asserted with complete certainty is that the gargantua slows down the time, and at some point the clock hands finally and irrevocably stop.