They solve the mystery of how quasars light up

Madrid, April 26. (Press Europe) –

Scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Hertfordshire have revealed one of the biggest mysteries of quasars by discovering this It is ignited by the collision of galaxies.

When two galaxies collide, gravitational forces push massive amounts of gas toward the supermassive black holes at the center of the colliding galaxy system. Just before the black hole consumes the gas, it releases extraordinary amounts of energy in the form of radiation, giving rise to the quasar. The Milky Way will likely experience its own quasar when it collides with the Andromeda Galaxy about 5 billion years from now.

First discovered 60 years ago, quasars can be as bright as a trillion stars packed into a volume the size of our solar system. Over the decades since it was first observed, what could lead to such vigorous activity has remained a mystery. The new work, which was done by looking at 48 quasar host galaxies and comparing them to more than 100 galaxies without quasars, It has now been revealed that it is the result of colliding galaxies.

The collisions were discovered when researchers, using depth imaging observations from the Isaac Newton Telescope in La Palma, noticed distorted structures in the outer regions of galaxies that host quasars.

Most galaxies contain supermassive black holes at their centers. They also contain large amounts of gas, but most of the time this gas rotates at great distances from the centers of galaxies. beyond the reach of black holes.

Collisions between galaxies push gas toward the black hole at the center of the galaxy. Just before being consumed by the black hole, the gas releases extraordinary amounts of energy in the form of radiation. Which leads to the characteristic brightness of quasars.

A quasar ignition could have devastating consequences for entire galaxies: it could expel the rest of the galactic gas, and prevent the galaxy from forming new stars billions of years in the future.

It is the first time that a sample of quasars of this size has been obtained with this level of sensitivity. By comparing observations of 48 quasars and their host galaxies with images of more than 100 non-quasar galaxies, the researchers concluded that quasar host galaxies are three times more likely to interact or collide with other galaxies.

The study published in “Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society”was a huge step forward in our understanding of how these powerful objects are powered and powered.

According to Professor Clive Tadhunter, from the University of Sheffield’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, “Quasars are one of the most extreme phenomena in the universe, and what we see is likely to represent the future of our Milky Way galaxy, when it collides with the Andromeda galaxy some five billion years after now “.

“It’s exciting to witness these events and finally understand why they happened, but hopefully Earth won’t be anywhere near one of these apocalyptic events for some time.”

Quasars are important to astrophysicists because, due to their brightness, they stand out at great distances and are therefore They serve as beacons from the earliest times in the history of the universe.

Dr. Jonny Pearce, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Hertfordshire, explains, “One of the main scientific motivations for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has been to study the oldest galaxies in the universe, and Webb is able to detect light from the nearest quasars far away, emitted nearly 13 years ago.” billion years. Quasars play a major role in our understanding of the history of the universe, and possibly the future of the Milky Way as well.”