Astronomers have observed a supermassive black hole, PG1211+143, devouring matter at an unprecedented rate and expelling excess material at nearly a third of the speed of light. This remarkable event, occurring in a Seyfert galaxy 1.2 billion light-years away, offers valuable insights into the behavior of these cosmic giants.
Using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton spacecraft, researchers tracked the black hole's activity. They observed an influx of matter equivalent to 10 Earth masses feeding the black hole within just five weeks. This material formed an accretion disk, from which the black hole draws its sustenance.
The black hole, with a mass 40 million times that of the Sun, couldn't consume all the incoming material. This resulted in high-speed outflows, traveling at approximately 181 million miles per hour. These outflows, following the inflow, heated surrounding material, generating radiation pressure that pushed excess matter away. This research, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS), sheds light on how black holes influence galactic evolution.