Scientists studying a distant galaxy cluster have discovered the biggest explosion seen in the Universe since the Big Bang.<\/p>\n
The blast came from a supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy hundreds of millions of light-years away.<\/p>\n
It released five times more energy than the previous record holder.<\/p>\n
Professor Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, from the Â鶹ֱ²¥ node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, said the event was extraordinarily energetic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen outbursts in the centres of galaxies before but this one is really, really massive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we don\u2019t know why it\u2019s so big.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it happened very slowly\u2014like an explosion in slow motion that took place over hundreds of millions of years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The explosion occurred in the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster, about 390 million light-years from Earth.<\/p>\n
It was so powerful it punched a cavity in the cluster plasma\u2014the super-hot gas surrounding the black hole.<\/p>\n
Lead author of the study Dr Simona Giacintucci, from the Naval Research Laboratory in the United States, said the blast was similar to the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, which ripped the top off the mountain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe difference is that you could fit 15 Milky Way galaxies in a row into the crater this eruption punched into the cluster\u2019s hot gas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Professor Johnston-Hollitt said the cavity in the cluster plasma had been seen previously with X-ray telescopes.<\/p>\n
But scientists initially dismissed the idea that it could have been caused by an energetic outburst, because it would have been too big.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople were sceptical because the size of outburst,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cBut it really is that. The Universe is a weird place.\u201d<\/p>\n
The researchers only realised what they had discovered when they looked at the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster with radio telescopes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe radio data fit inside the X-rays like a hand in a glove,\u201d said co-author Dr Maxim Markevitch, from NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the clincher that tells us an eruption of unprecedented size occurred here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The discovery was made using four telescopes; NASA\u2019s Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA’s XMM-Newton, the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in Western Australia and the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in India.<\/p>\n
Professor Johnston-Hollitt, who is the director of the MWA and an expert in galaxy clusters, likened the finding to discovering the first dinosaur bones.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit like archaeology,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve been given the tools to dig deeper with low frequency radio telescopes so we should be able to find more outbursts like this now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The finding underscores the importance of studying the Universe at different wavelengths, Professor Johnston-Hollitt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing back and doing a multi-wavelength study has really made the difference here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Professor Johnston-Hollitt said the finding is likely to be the first of many.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe made this discovery with Phase 1 of the MWA, when the telescope had 2048 antennas pointed towards the sky,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re soon going to be gathering observations with 4096 antennas, which should be ten times more sensitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that’s pretty exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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