How About...Blazing Jets?

Astronomers have found that there are several fluctuations on blazing jets at Blackholes.

Nowadays Blackholes are nothing new to you (or at least they shouldn't...and if you have not heard about them, wait for my article: How About...Blackholes? , in which you'll know more information about them)  but now astronomers have seen that they might behave a little bit different than thought.

Astronomers commonly study everything surrounding a blackhole, to learn more about "him". By everything, I mean all the material the Blackhole is swallowing, the X-ray bursts,gamma rays, radio waves,  "his" mass and more. 

You have probably seen "Artist's Concepts"  like this one: 

This artist's concept illustrates what the flaring black hole called GX 339-4 might look like. Infrared observations from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) reveal the best information yet on the chaotic and extreme environments of this black hole's jets. 

GX 339-4 likely formed from a star that exploded. It is surrounded by an accretion disk (red) of material being pulled onto the black hole from a neighboring star (yellow orb). Some of this material is shot away in the form of jets (yellow flows above and below the disk). The region close in to the black hole glows brightly in infrared light. 

Image credit: NASA

Well, despite the artist's imagination, blackholes are still there swallowing mass, and as they "eat" more, they need, sometimes, to expel  some material, and that's what produces what scientists call Jets. 

Jets were thought to be constant and continuously coming out of the Blackhole. But now thanks to more precise data gathered by the Wide Infrared Survery Explorer (WISE), astronomers have found that this might not be the case.

The blackhole known as GX-339-4, at only 20,000 light-years from Earth, near our galaxy's center, has been captured and monitored by the WISE, and new discoveries have astonished the scientists. 

"The results surprised the team, showing huge and erratic fluctuations in the jet activity on timescales ranging from 11 seconds to a few hours. The observations are like a dance of infrared colors and show that the size of the jet's base varies. Its radius is approximately 15,000 miles (24,140 kilometers), with dramatic changes by as large as a factor of 10 or more."

So, this means, as Poshak Gandhi (a scientist with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) ) said, the analogy to these blazing jets, would be:

the blackhole's jet is like a firehose, in which its flow is constantly varying, and the hose itself is changing its width. 

Quite interesting don't you think?

These new information gathered, has helped scientists calculate a blackhole's magnetic field, which results being 30,000 times more powerful than that of Earth's surface. 

Here is how the WISE, captured this constant change in the blackhole's jets:

WISE images showing strong bursts and dimming of infrared light in the black hole GX 339-4. The data cover a period of approximately 1 day, speeded up. Infrared light has a wavelength about 15 times longer than the eye can see.

Animation made by Poshak Gandhi (JAXA) using WISE images.

I am right now getting to know more about Black Holes, that means, I am investigating deeper everything dealing with them. Stay in touch for my new article: How About...Black Holes?

because now with the information captured by WISE, I am beginning to think that maybe Black Holes are constantly pulsing.

Thanks to NASA, ESA, JAXA, and of course to you, for reading. 

I.