One of the largest black holes in the Milky Way is closed and scientists don’t know why

10:52 GMT 07.02.2021Short link

Just over two years ago, one of the brightest X-ray bulbs in the sky began to dim. Scientists have not yet been able to determine the reason behind this rare cosmic phenomenon, but a group of scientists from the University of Michigan (USA) is trying to solve the mystery.

Block the latter 10 to 18 times that of the sun, Making it the second heaviest known black hole in the Milky Way. details Living Sciences. In terms of mass, it lies just behind the supermassive black hole of Arc A *, in the center of our galaxy.

However, starting in the second half of 2018, the black hole brightness of GRS 1915 + 105 began to dimming. At the beginning of the next year, the lights were dimmed even more, a phenomenon that puzzled scientists, as nothing like it had been observed before.

Researchers at the University of Michigan (USA) tried to find a cause A rare phenomenon. His theories were published in Arxiv New study That has not been peer reviewed.

While much light is still emanating from the event horizon – the spherical region around the black hole – and its accretion disk – a disc of gas and dust orbiting the celestial body – this glow no longer reaches Earth, as I used to.

Since no telescope is in place that can record details of what is happening in the remote system, researchers had to make inferences about how light changed from GRS 1915 + 105 between 2018 and 2019.

Black holes in large star systems are sometimes dimmed by Stellar wind Of their peers can push gas clouds in front of their lights.

“In the case of GRS 1915 + 105, the companion star is low in mass and has no massive stellar winds that cause the occult gases to appear,” said Mayura Balakrishnan, lead author of the study.

Scientists believe that the dimming of the brightness of the system is due to the presence of Something blocks this light. However, the nature of the organism responsible for this phenomenon is “difficult to discern,” says Balakrishnan, so the exact cause of the phenomenon remains shrouded in mystery.