MS 0735.6+7421 is a

galaxy cluster A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. They are the second-l ...

located in the

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

Camelopardalis Camelopardalis is a large but faint constellation of the northern sky representing a giraffe. The constellation was introduced in 1612 or 1613 by Petrus Plancius. Some older astronomy books give Camelopardalus or Camelopardus as alternative for ...

, approximately 2.6 billion light-years away. It is notable as the location of one of the largest central galactic black holes in the known universe, which has also apparently produced one of the most powerful

active galactic nucleus An active galactic nucleus (AGN) is a compact region at the center of a galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity over at least some portion of the electromagnetic spectrum with characteristics indicating that the luminosity is not pr ...

eruptions discovered. In February 2020, it was reported that another similar but much more energetic AGN outburst - the Ophiuchus Supercluster eruption in the NeVe 1 galaxy, was five times the energy of MS 0735.6+7421.

Black hole eruption

Using data from the

Chandra X-ray Observatory The Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), previously known as the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF), is a Flagship-class space telescope launched aboard the during STS-93 by NASA on July 23, 1999. Chandra is sensitive to X-ray sources 1 ...

, scientists have deduced that an eruption has been occurring for the last 100 million years at the heart of the galaxy cluster, releasing as much energy over this time as hundreds of millions of

gamma ray burst In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten milli ...

s.Most Powerful Eruption In The Universe Discovered
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center (ScienceDaily) January 6, 2005 (The amount of energy released in a year is thus equivalent to several GRBs.) The remnants of the eruption are seen as two cavities on either side of a large central galaxy. If this outburst, with a total energy budget of more than 10⁵⁵ J, was caused by a

black hole A black hole is a region of spacetime where gravitation, gravity is so strong that nothing, including light or other Electromagnetic radiation, electromagnetic waves, has enough energy to escape it. The theory of general relativity predicts t ...

accretion event, it must have consumed nearly 600 million solar masses. Work done by Brian McNamara et al. (2008) point out the striking possibility that the outburst was not the result of an accretion event, but was instead powered by the rotation of the black hole. Moreover, the scientists mentioned the possibility that the central black hole in MS 0735.6+7421 could be one of the biggest black holes inhabiting the visible universe. This speculation is supported by the fact that the central cD Galaxy inside MS 0735.6+7421 possess the largest break radius known, as of today. With a calculated light deficit of more than 20 billion solar luminosities and an assumed light-to-mass ratio of 3, this yields a central black hole mass much above 10 billion solar masses, as far as the break radius was caused by the merger of several black holes in the past. In combination with the gargantuan energy outburst it is therefore very likely that MS 0735.6+7421 hosts a supermassive black hole in its core. The cluster has a red shift of 64,800 ± 900 km/ s and an apparent size of 25′. Newer calculations using the spheroidal luminosity of the central galaxy and the estimation of its break radius yielded black hole masses of 15.85 billion and 51.3 billion , respectively.

X-ray source

Hot X-ray emitting gas pervades MS 0735.6+7421. Two vast cavities—each 600,000 ly in diameter—appear on opposite sides of a large galaxy at the center of the cluster. These cavities are filled with a two-sided, elongated, magnetized bubble of extremely high-energy electrons that emit radio waves.

References

External links

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Most Powerful Eruption In The Universe Discovered
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center (ScienceDaily) January 6, 2005
MS 0735.6+7421: Most Powerful Eruption in the Universe Discovered
(CXO at Harvard)

(NASA)
Super-Super-massive Black Hole
(Universetoday)
A site for the cluster

An Energetic AGN Outburst Powered by a Rapidly Spinning Supermassive Black Hole

Scientists Reveal Secrets to Burping Black Hole with the Green Bank Telescope
{{DEFAULTSORT:MS 0735.6+7421 Galaxy clusters Camelopardalis (constellation) X-ray astronomy Astronomical X-ray sources

Black hole eruption

X-ray source

See also

References

External links