The State Column

A group of NASA scientists received a rare glimpse of a black hole earlier this month, finding glowing matter falling into the depths of a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy.

The team of scientists used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to observe a quasar accretion disc — a brightly glowing disc of matter that is slowly being sucked into its galaxy’s central black hole. The astronomers, using an observation technique known as gravitational lensing, obtained a direct image of the disk surrounding a black hole, which is made of gas and dust, and is slowly being consumed as it spirals down into the black hole’s center.

Astronomers were able to capture the image of the distant disk, which is approximately 18.5 billion light-years away, due to the fact that the galaxy is found just between Earth and a distant quasar. Using the gravitational lensing technique, researchers were able to directly determine the temperatures at different parts of the quasar, and determine measurements of its size. Using that measure, officials were then able to discern the shape and the temperatures of the massive black hole.

hile black holes themselves are invisible, the forces they unleash cause some of the brightest phenomena in the Universe. Quasars — short for quasi-stellar objects — are glowing discs of matter that orbit supermassive black holes, heating up and emitting extremely bright radiation as they do so.

NASA astronomers said the image would likely present scientists with additional information regarding how black holes and quasars interact.

“This result is very relevant because it implies we are now able to obtain observational data on the structure of these systems, rather than relying on theory alone,” said one astronomer. “Quasars’ physical properties are not yet well understood. This new ability to obtain observational measurements is therefore opening a new window to help understand the nature of these objects.”

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