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By Maggie Galloway
Translation: He Yuying
Proofreader: Zhu Chenyu
Review: Pastor Proofreading Group
Arrangement: Chen Hongyu
Backstage: Kutriya Fuka, Li Ziqi, Hu Yongwei, Dong Tengchen
Original link: https://www.popsci.com/science/center-of-milky-way-images/
To peek into the center of our galaxy, we now have a better window filled with exploding stars, magnetic lines, and a giant black hole.
On January 26, the South African Radio Observatory (SARAO) released images of the Heart of the Milky Way, using the station's radio telescope, MeerKAT. The MeerKAT, which captures radio waves with 64 antennas that stretch almost five kilometers away, is the most sensitive telescope of its kind. To take the picture below, such a telescope is a must. Because only radio waves can penetrate the dust between Earth and the center of our galaxy.
The new radio telescope image shows the Milky Way in red and the black hole in yellow. Image source: I. Heywood, Radio Observatory of South Africa
As MeerKAT observed, the Milky Way appears as blood-red, transverse spots in the figure. The bright yellow dot in the middle is the black hole in the Milky Way. Fernando Camilo, chief scientist at the South African Radio Observatory, tells us that the brightness of the dot indicates the massive, concentrated amount of radio radiation caused by the surge of material being sucked into the black hole. Until recently, the academic community could not be sure of the existence of black holes. Now, black holes are famous for not being picky eaters, and recent researchers have also discovered that they can also produce new stars.
The stripes in the picture resemble masterpieces by Master Jackson Pollock are non-thermal filaments (NTFs), magnetic lines that cannot be found elsewhere in the Milky Way. Fernando Camilo said the researchers had seen about a hundred NTFs before, but now with these new MeerKAT images, they found more than a thousand: "You used to study NTFs as spectacles, now you can study them as a race." ”
The black hole at the center of the Milky Way, due to the large amount of material being sucked into it, looks bright yellow. Image source: I. Heywood, Radio Observatory of South Africa
The image above is shot closer to the black hole and rotates a bit to the right. That black hole looked like the "Eye of Mordor." Some astrophysicists call the swirling, spherical thing in the upper left corner of the black hole "super bubble." It could be the result of a large number of stars exploding in a "rapid iteration." In the interstellar sense, "rapid" means millions of years. Fernando Camilo says it was this phenomenon that blew out that bubble.
The bright white dot on the left is called the "Rat Nebula." Image source: I. Heywood, Radio Observatory of South Africa
Pictured is the remnants of a supernova from an exploded star. The bright "lightning" in the upper right is called "Snake King". The bright spot to the left of the supernova remnant is called the "Rat Nebula" because it looks like a rat. Camelot first discovered it in 2002. The rat's pointed nose is a pulsar, the highly magnetized, rotating, collapsed nucleus of a massive star. The fading tail comes from the supersonic flight of the little rat. Camilo said: "This pulsar moves hundreds of kilometers per second, faster than the speed of sound around it, like a fast-moving ship, leaving behind it a trail of dragging." ”
This supernova is nearly standard round is rare. Image source: I. Heywood, Radio Observatory of South Africa
The researchers also photographed never-before-seen remnants of supernovae, several light-years in diameter. In general, the outlines of supernova remnants dissolve into the universe, so Camillo said that the near-standard circle of the supernova is rare. According to the South African Radio Observatory, the bright white spots scattered in the map may be extramassive black holes in the distance.
The above images have been used for three years of scientific analysis, and have published two articles in the Astrophysical Journal and the Astrophysical Journal Of Communications. The South African Radio Observatory is now making the data publicly available to colleagues.
Camelot said: "This kind of structure is unprecedented in the Milky Way, this is not an accidental phenomenon, it must have something to do with black holes." Astronomers hope to study this problem from images of this excellent quality. ”
Jackson. Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) was an American master of abstract expressionist painting. Pictured below is one of his works: Untitled.
The Eye of Mordor: From The Lord of the Rings
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Pastoral New Media Editorial Department
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"Astronomical Wet Engraving" produced by Shepherd
Hemispherical Scherhenrixsen Observatory, Svalbard, Norway
Shel-Henry Observatory
While these domes look like movie scenes depicting a distant galaxy, they are actually part of a scientific research station on Earth. The Scher Henriksen Observatory is named after a Norwegian scientist whose research has focused on the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights are common in the depths of the Arctic Circle in Norway's remote Svalbard Islands. This observatory is specially designed for observing the aurora borealis. Since opening in 2008, the observatory has become a destination for atmospheric scientists, who can rent one of 30 glass-roofed rooms for high-end optical instruments.