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posted by chromas on Tuesday August 03 2021, @11:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the mind-bending-physics dept.

In a paper published in Nature (paywalled), astronomers have, for the first time been able to discern x-ray echos that came from behind a supermassive black hole. It is the first direct observation of light bending all the way around a black hole and into our line of sight. The finding is further confirmation of general relativity, showing that the predictions hold even around extreme objects like supermassive black holes.

Coverage on Space.com, and Science Daily

A non-paywalled copy of the paper can be found here.


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @12:56PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @12:56PM (#1162643)

    X-rays pass through objects, no around.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @02:38PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @02:38PM (#1162687)

      That's the point. These x-rays are being reflected by the black hole instead of just passing through.

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Tuesday August 03 2021, @05:00PM (1 child)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 03 2021, @05:00PM (#1162749) Journal

      If X-rays try to pass through a black hole can they must cross the event horizon. Nothing escapes the event horizon. Not even X-rays.

      So the X-rays must have bent around the hole.

      Once X-rays cross the event horizon, they are eventually absorbed by the amoeba at the center of the black hole.

      Inside the black hole is protoplasm. Mr. Spock was able to use [wikipedia.org] a shuttle craft to destroy the amoeba at the center just as it was about to reproduce. The resulting explosion ruptured the black hole and returned the Enterprise to normal space. Thank goodfulness.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @07:28PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @07:28PM (#1162798)

        But these x-rays passed through the black hole, since they were located behind it. It would be very interesting to put some x-ray sensitive film in front so we could see what's inside a black hole.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @02:40PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @02:40PM (#1162688)

    That must require very sensitive instruments to pick up because only a small fraction of the light would get sent our way.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @08:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 03 2021, @08:54PM (#1162848)

      because only a small fraction of the light would get sent our way

      That is true for all stellar objects.

  • (Score: 2) by corey on Tuesday August 03 2021, @10:34PM (1 child)

    by corey (2202) on Tuesday August 03 2021, @10:34PM (#1162864)

    > It is the first direct observation of light bending all the way around a black hole and into our line of sight.

    Maybe I’m being pedantic but it’s electromagnetic waves/energy, not light?

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @12:14AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @12:14AM (#1162898)

    The innermost regions of accretion disks around black holes are strongly irradiated by X-rays that are emitted from a highly variable, compact corona, in the immediate vicinity of the black hole1,2,3. The X-rays that are seen reflected from the disk4, and the time delays, as variations in the X-ray emission echo or ‘reverberate’ off the disk5,6, provide a view of the environment just outside the event horizon. I Zwicky 1 (I Zw 1) is a nearby narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy7,8. Previous studies of the reverberation of X-rays from its accretion disk revealed that the corona is composed of two components: an extended, slowly varying component extending over the surface of the inner accretion disk, and a collimated core, with luminosity fluctuations propagating upwards from its base, which dominates the more rapid variability9,10. Here we report observations of X-ray flares emitted from around the supermassive black hole in I Zw 1. X-ray reflection from the accretion disk is detected through a relativistically broadened iron K line and Compton hump in the X-ray emission spectrum. Analysis of the X-ray flares reveals short flashes of photons consistent with the re-emergence of emission from behind the black hole. The energy shifts of these photons identify their origins from different parts of the disk11,12. These are photons that reverberate off the far side of the disk, and are bent around the black hole and magnified by the strong gravitational field. Observing photons bent around the black hole confirms a key prediction of general relativity.

    By the way, I've never been a fan of writing an abstract with reference notes in it. It should stand on its own.

  • (Score: 2) by jb on Wednesday August 04 2021, @04:33AM (1 child)

    by jb (338) on Wednesday August 04 2021, @04:33AM (#1162951)

    ...observed from Behind a Black Hole

    Really, behind one?

    Given that a black hole looks just, well, black, from pretty much any angle, how can you tell if you're observing from behind it or from in front of it?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @11:28AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 04 2021, @11:28AM (#1162999)

      It is briefly mentioned in the abstract, reposted in these comments, and goes into much more depth in the paper.

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