Mysterious brightening of distant galaxy traced to awakening giant black hole

Astronomers have traced the mysterious brightening of a distant galaxy in the Virgo constellation to the awakening of a colossal black hole, estimated to be 1 million times more massive than the sun.

The galaxy known by the codename SDSS1335+0728, situated 300 million light years away, showed no remarkable features for decades. This changed dramatically at the end of 2019 when scientists noticed a massive surge in its luminosity.

A staff astronomer at the European Southern Observatory in Garching, GermanyDr Paula Sanchez-Saez said,"We discovered this source at the moment it started to show these variations in luminosity."

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"It's the first time we've seen this in real time."

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The sudden brightening of the galaxy was first detected by the Zwicky Transient Facility in California in December 2019.

This observatory recorded an unexpected increase in the galaxy's brightness, prompting astronomers worldwide to conduct new observations and review past measurements from both ground and space-based telescopes.

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Their research revealed that the galaxy had recently doubled in brightness in the mid-infrared wavelengths, quadrupled in ultraviolet brightness, and increased tenfold in X-ray brightness.

The cause of this dramatic change remains uncertain.

However, in a paper published in Astronomy and Astrophysics, researchers propose that the most plausible explanation is the formation of an "active galactic nucleus."

This phenomenon occurs when a vast black hole at the centreof a galaxy begins actively consuming surrounding material, emitting a broad spectrum of light as gas around the black hole heats up and glows.

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Dust particles around the black hole also absorb and re-radiate various wavelengths of light.

Another potential explanation is an exotic "tidal disruption event," a process where a star is torn apart after wandering too close to a black hole.

Typically, tidal disruption events brighten a galaxy for only a few hundred days, which makes this scenario less likely but not impossible. More data is required to rule it out completely.

(With inputs from agencies)