State-of-the-art cameras uncover new clues behind growing black hole system
An astronomy team led by the University of Southampton has used the latest imaging technologies to reveal a violent flaring at the heart of a black hole system.
The international study has produced a high frame-rate movie showing fast flickers of radiation emissions equivalent to the output of more than hundred Suns.
Researchers have published their findings in a new paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Co-author Dr Poshak Gandhi, of the School of Physics and Astronomy, believes the discovery could demonstrate a “unifying characteristic” of growing black holes.
The radiation was detected in visible light by the HiPERCAM instrument on the Gran Telescopio Canarias and in X-rays by NASA's NICER observatory aboard the International Space Station.
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