Researchers recently discovered a radio galaxy that evolved into a blazar.

 

(NASA/JPL-Caltech)

In an unusual instance, astronomers have seen a galaxy change its shape.

 

PBC J2333.9-2343, an object that is 630 million light-years distant, was categorised as a giant radio galaxy a few decades ago. It projected massive, radio-emitting structures that were once created by enormous blasts that burst from the galactic centre perpendicular to our line of sight.

However, more recent observations show that the galaxy's core has turned back on and is now directing its jet straight in our direction.

 

It's nothing to worry about; in fact, it happens quite frequently. We even have a word for it; it's called a blazar. The blazar PBC J2333.9-2343's new classification may help us better comprehend how galaxies can change, even over the course of a human lifetime.

 

Galaxies appear in a variety of sizes and shapes, and their levels of activity depend on how active the supermassive black holes at their centres are. For instance, the Milky Way is a peaceful galaxy, and our supermassive black hole is hardly active, only taking in a tiny quantity of matter.

The appearance of a supermassive black hole that is actively consuming gas and dust from its surroundings is very distinct. The extreme gravitational and frictional forces at work cause this material to create a torus and disc that circles the black hole; this disc blazes with light across the entire electromagnetic spectrum as a result.

Material falls onto the black hole from the interior edge of the disc like water pouring down a drain. However, not all of that information travels past the event boundary. Some of it is directed away from the black hole and accelerated along magnetic field lines. As soon as it hits the poles, this material is shot into space at a significant fraction of the speed of light in a vacuum, forming jets of plasma.

 

An image of PBC J2333.9-2343 obtained using Pan-STARRS. (Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii)

What's left of those jets can continue to travel through space and spread out into lobes that continue to emanate radio waves after the black hole concludes its meal and becomes quieter once more. These can be enormous and are referred to as gigantic radio galaxies. Such radio lobes, which are 3.9 million light-years in length and show prior black hole activity, are present in PBC J2333.9-2343.

 

A team of astronomers headed by astrophysicist Lorena Hernández-Garca of the Millenium Institute of Astrophysics in Chile hypothesised that PBC J2333.9-2343 may now be a blazar because the galaxy has displayed some peculiar behaviour at various wavelengths. In 2017, they presented their case in a report, and now they have the supporting observational data.

What's left of those jets can continue to travel through space and spread out into lobes that continue to emanate radio waves after the black hole concludes its meal and becomes quieter once more. These can be enormous and are referred to as gigantic radio galaxies. Such radio lobes, which are 3.9 million light-years in length and show prior black hole activity, are present in PBC J2333.9-2343.

 

A team of astronomers headed by astrophysicist Lorena Hernández-Garca of the Millenium Institute of Astrophysics in Chile hypothesised that PBC J2333.9-2343 may now be a blazar because the galaxy has displayed some peculiar behaviour at various wavelengths. In 2017, they presented their case in a report, and now they have the supporting observational data.

The fact that the nucleus is no longer feeding the lobes indicates that they are very ancient, according to Hernández-Garca. They are remnants of earlier activity, in contrast to the structures that are situated closer to the nucleus, which are younger and more active jets.

 

It is still unclear how the black hole could have made such a drastic position shift. The black hole may have been thrown sideways during a significant event, like a collision and merger with another galaxy, as evidenced by the apparent absence of activity between the lobes and the galaxy.

This might imply that we are seeing J2333.9-2343 for the first time, a "very exceptional case of jet reorientation," which would change the classification of the object from a giant radio galaxy to a blazar.

Reference: sciencealert.com

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