Far from our own star, at the heart of a galaxy called NGC 3783, a supermassive black hole has been seen flickering in X-rays in a pattern astronomers first recognized on the Sun in 1968. A team from the Technion in Israel, working with colleagues across Japan, Europe, and the United States, reads that familiar signature as a hint that the same magnetic mechanism that stirs up solar storms may also be stirring the immense surroundings of a black hole. It is a single observation offered as evidence rather than settled truth, and it invites a larger question: whether the violent physics of our s
Technion Team Finds Solar-Storm Signatures Around a Supermassive Black Hole
The same physics behind solar storms may be at work around a black hole
Mark
So what did the Technion team actually find?
Mimi
A pattern in X-ray light from around the black hole in NGC 3783. It's called the Neupert effect, first seen on the Sun in 1968, and nobody had detected it near a black hole before.
Mark
Why does a solar pattern matter out there?
Mimi
On the Sun it goes with magnetic reconnection, where magnetic energy turns into kinetic energy and can throw off coronal mass ejections. Seeing it near a black hole suggests the same process is at work.
Mark
And the scale is wildly different.
Mimi
The black holes are a million times the Sun's size or more, yet the proposed mechanism is the same.
Luke
I want to slow down on "the same." What's confirmed here?
Mimi
The detection of the effect in XRISM and XMM-Newton data, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. The reconnection and CME reading is the team's interpretation of that signature.
Luke
Right, so it's evidence, not proof. And it's one black hole. The material I have doesn't mention independent confirmation.
Mark
So what should we watch for?
Mimi
Replication, and whether other black holes show the same signature. That would decide whether models need adjusting.
Luke
Agreed. Until then, it's a strong claim from one team, on one object.
Der Puls
- A faint X-ray flicker around a supermassive black hole mirrors a solar signature first recorded in 1968, startling astronomers who never expected to find it there.
- The Neupert effect, linked on the Sun to magnetic reconnection and eruptions, now suggests violent ejections may be erupting from the corona of a black hole.
- Researchers at the Technion, drawing on XRISM and XMM-Newton data, are testing whether the solar storm playbook truly applies a million times over.
- The claim is still unconfirmed, and the team is waiting for independent verification and for other black holes to show the same signal.
- If the finding holds, models of matter and magnetic fields near black holes may need to be rewritten to include solar-style eruptions.
Far from our own star, at the heart of a galaxy called NGC 3783, a supermassive black hole has been seen flickering in X-rays in a pattern astronomers first recognized on the Sun in 1968. A team from the Technion in Israel, working with colleagues across Japan, Europe, and the United States, reads that familiar signature as a hint that the same magnetic mechanism that stirs up solar storms may also be stirring the immense surroundings of a black hole. It is a single observation offered as evidence rather than settled truth, and it invites a larger question: whether the violent physics of our small, nearby sun is a quieter echo of forces at work across the universe's most extreme places.
A team at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has reported that X-ray light flickering around a supermassive black hole carries a signature astronomers have known on the Sun since 1968. The black hole sits at the center of the galaxy NGC 3783, and the signature, known as the Neupert effect, had never before been detected around a black hole.
The work was led by doctoral student Gal Vardi under the supervision of Prof. Ehud Behar, with colleagues from Japan, Europe, and the United States. The data came from XRISM, a joint mission of NASA, JAXA, and ESA, and from ESA's XMM-Newton. The Neupert effect appeared in the XRISM observations of the region near the black hole.
On the Sun, the effect is tied to magnetic reconnection, the process that converts magnetic energy into motion and drives coronal mass ejections. The researchers argue the same sequence may be unfolding around the black hole, which they describe as a million times larger than the Sun or more. The scale is vast, but the mechanism would be the same.
The team presents this as evidence rather than certainty. Independent confirmation and observations of other black holes will be the next tests. If the signature holds, models of matter and magnetic fields near black holes may need to account for solar-style eruptions.
A team at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has reported that the X-ray light flickering around a supermassive black hole carries a signature astronomers have known on the Sun since 1968. The black hole sits at the center of the galaxy NGC 3783, and the signature is called the Neupert effect. According to the researchers, it had never before been detected around a black hole.
The work was led by Gal Vardi, a doctoral student in the Technion Faculty of Physics, under the supervision of Prof. Ehud Behar. Colleagues from Japan, Europe, and the United States took part. The results appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The data came from two space telescopes. One is XRISM, a joint mission of NASA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and the European Space Agency (ESA). The other is ESA's XMM-Newton. The team used XRISM to monitor X-rays emitted from the region near the black hole in NGC 3783, and the Neupert effect turned up in those observations.
To see why that matters, start with the Sun. Solar storms are powerful eruptions of X-ray radiation, accompanied by winds of charged particles thrown from the Sun's corona into the solar system. They can endanger astronauts and disrupt satellite communications. The ejections of material, called coronal mass ejections or CMEs, begin when magnetic energy is converted into kinetic energy through a process known as magnetic reconnection.
The Technion team argues that the same sequence is playing out around the black hole. Its members say they have found, for the first time, magnetic reconnection eruptions and a CME in the corona of a black hole. Their reasoning rests on the Neupert effect: because it is tied on the Sun to these magnetic processes, seeing it near a black hole suggests that the physics behind solar storms also operates in that setting.
The scale difference is considerable. The black holes in question are supermassive, and the researchers describe them as a million times larger than the Sun or more. Even so, the proposed mechanism is the one that governs a star at the center of our own solar system, in which magnetic energy is released and converted into other forms, driving outbursts.
The researchers say the finding advances understanding of how matter and magnetic fields behave in the extreme surroundings of black holes. It links the activity of the Sun with that of some of the most extreme objects known.
This is a single report on one black hole, and it is presented as evidence rather than settled fact. Independent confirmation will be the next test, along with whether other black holes show the same signature. If they do, models of matter and magnetic fields near black holes may need to account for solar-style eruptions.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
The team says it has found, for the first time, magnetic reconnection eruptions and a coronal mass ejection in a black hole's corona.— Technion researchers (paraphrased)
Möchten Sie die ganze Geschichte?
Das Original lesen bei EurekAlert! ↗
Science & Space