The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration (EHT) has released new images of the supermassive black hole at the centre of the galaxy Messier 87. Researchers from Aalto University and the University of Turku contributed to forming the images from the new observations.
An international team of astronomers observed the second one of the two supermassive black holes circling each other in an active galaxy OJ 287.
In the latest issue of the journal Nature, an international team including astronomers from University of Turku reveal the origin of a thermonuclear supernova explosion. Strong emission lines of helium and the first detection of such a supernova in radio waves show that the exploding white dwarf star had a helium-rich companion.
A new study sheds light on the bright outbursts of radiation that are created when a star is destroyed by a supermassive black hole. The outbursts do not necessarily form in the close vicinity of the black hole, but are created by tidal shocks that occur when gas from the destroyed star hits itself while circling the black hole.
When neutron stars collide, they produce a violent explosion. Data from the only well observed collision show that the explosion was perfectly spherical, completely contrary to expectations. How this is possible remains a mystery, but the discovery may provide a new key to fundamental physics and to measuring the age of the Universe. The discovery was made by an international collaboration led by astrophysicists from the University of Copenhagen and including researchers from the University of Turku. The research has just been published in the journal Nature.
A study led from the University of Turku discovered a supernova explosion that expands our understanding of the later life stages of massive stars.
Some of the brightest objects in the sky are called blazars. They consist of a supermassive black hole feeding off material swirling around it in a disk, which can create two powerful jets perpendicular to the disk on each side. A blazar is especially bright because one of its jets of high-speed particles points straight at Earth. For decades, scientists have wondered: How do particles in these jets get accelerated to such high energies?
The researchers observed the X-ray radiation from the matter around a black hole. According to the researchers the shape and orientation of the X-ray glow support the theory, that the X-rays come from the disc-shaped material flowing into the black hole which is perpendicular to previously imaged relativistic outflows of matter called jets. These findings give a better understanding about the inner workings of black holes and how they consume mass.
Researchers from the University of Turku determined geometrical parameters of a neutron star floating in the Galaxy 21,000 light years away. The finding confirms old ideas that this star precesses like a whirligig.
The department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Turku is a partner in the international Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) project, which will play a key role in shepherding in a new era of gravitational wave science. The GOTO observatory is made up of two identical telescope arrays on opposite sides of the planet that will track down sources of gravitational waves resulting from violent cosmic events that create ripples in the fabric of space-time itself.