Mumbai, September 30: Astronomers have discovered the first concrete evidence of a black hole spinning. The discoveries provided fresh light on the mysterious astronomical phenomenon and centred on the supermassive black hole at the heart of the adjacent Messier 87 (M87) galaxy. M87, like other supermassive black holes, has tremendous jets released from the poles at near-lightspeed into intergalactic space.

Scientists assume that the spinning of a black hole fuels these cosmic jets, but there has been no direct evidence yet. The black hole has been photographed by Event Horizon Telescope, according to The Guardian. James Webb Space Telescope Detects Most Distant Active Supermassive Black Hole Till Date.

According to Dr. Ru-Sen Lu, principal author of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, the scientific community is aware that jets are emitted from the region around black holes. But we still do not fully understand how this happens, Lu stated, adding that they needed to see the jet's origin as near to the black hole as possible.

M87, 55 million light years away, is home to a black hole 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun. An accretion disc of gas and dust swirls on the edge of the cosmic abyss beyond the black hole. According to the experts, some of this stuff will fall into the black hole and vanish forever. However, a tiny proportion will be expelled from the black hole's poles at speeds greater than 99.99% of the speed of light. First Ever Pictures of A Black Hole Expected to be Released in 12 Hours’ Time.

The observations of M87 from a global network of radio telescopes from 2000 to 2022 were utilised in the study, which was published in Nature. Scientists discovered an 11-year cycle in the jet, which was discovered to proceed around a core point at the black hole's edge. It pointed to a discrepancy between the black hole's spin axis and the accretion disc, which caused the jet to spin like a top.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 30, 2023 04:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).