Scientists for 22 years of observations have found that a supermassive black hole with a mass of 6.5 billion suns at the centre of the galaxy M87 rotates and destroys everything within a radius of 5000 light years

The supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy M87 is spinning. It took scientists 22 years to confirm this.

Here's What We Know

Since 2000, specialists have managed to analyse 170 observations of the supermassive black hole, which was discovered more than 100 years ago. The rotation of the object can be judged only by the change in position of the relativistic jet it emits.

A rotating supermassive black hole distorts space-time, which leads to an increase in inertial reference frames. Due to the distortion of space-time there is a change in the direction of the relativistic jet and orientation of the accretion disc of the supermassive black hole. For an observer from the Earth it looks like a deviation by a small angle.

Scientists were able to establish that the angle of deviation is approximately 10 °. The cycle of motion of the relativistic jet is repeated and lasts for 11 years. The jet, which was discovered in 1918, is 5000 light years long. During its motion, it destroys everything in its path.

The supermassive black hole at the centre of the M87 galaxy is 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun. Now scientists have to find out how fast it's spinning. Typically, such objects spin at nearly the speed of light, although there are a small number of (known) black holes that are twice as slow as photons of light.

Source: Science Alert