Amazing red flashes emitted to the power of 1000 suns from a "Nearby" black hole
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Spotting a black hole producing fierce bright red flashes is said to provide new perception into the creation of such energy.
A few astronomers from Britain have detected ferocious red flashes, lasting just fractions of a second, during one of the brightest black hole surges in recent history.
In June last year, a black hole called V404 Cygni suffered dramatic brightening for about 2 weeks, as it consumed debris stripped off a nearby companion star.
Situated around 7,800 light years from Earth, V404 Cygni, was the first definitive black hole to be recognised in our galaxy and can appear extremely bright when actively consuming material.
In a recent study by the Royal Astronomical Society, published in the journal Monthly Notices, and world-wide team of astronomers, led by the University of Southampton, report that the black hole emitted amazing red flashes lasting just fractions of a second, as it blasted out material that it could not consume.
As per astronomers, the red colour is associated with fast-moving jets of material which were ejected nearby the black hole.
These studies have provided new insight into the formation of such jets and extreme black hole phenomena.
Associate professor at the University of Southampton, Dr Poshak Gandhi, said: "The very high speed tells us that the region where this red light is being emitted must be very compact.
"Piecing together clues about the colour, speed, and the power of these flashes, we conclude that this light is being emitted from the base of the black hole jet. The origin of these jets is still unknown, although strong magnetic fields are suspected to play a role.
"Furthermore, these red flashes were found to be strongest at the peak of the black hole's feeding frenzy. We speculate that when the black hole was being rapidly force-fed by its companion orbiting star, it reacted violently by spewing out some of the material as a fast-moving jet.
"The duration of these flashing episodes could be related to the switching on and off of the jet, seen for the first time in detail."
Each flash was equivalent to the energy of about 1,000 suns, and some of the flashes were shorter than 1/40th of a second - about 10 times quicker than the time taken for an average blink of an eye.
The flashes where captured using the Ultracam fast imaging camera situated on the William Herschel Telescope found in La Palma, on the Canary Islands, This research was a team effort among the Universities of Southampton, Sheffield and Warwick, as well as global partners in Europe, USA, India and the UAE.
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