Most big galaxies, including our own Milky Way, host a supermassive black hole weighing millions to billions of times the Sun's mass. Then, in June, the galaxy’s higher-energy X-ray emission disappeared, later reappearing in October.Īn international science team has linked these unusual observations to changes in the black hole’s environment that likely would be triggered by a magnetic switch. When NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory first examined the galaxy in May 2018, its UV emission was also 12 times higher but steadily declining, indicating an earlier unobserved peak. Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Ī rare and enigmatic outburst from a galaxy 236 million light-years away may have been sparked by a magnetic reversal, a spontaneous flip of the magnetic field surrounding its central black hole.Īt the end of 2017, a galaxy called 1ES 1927+654 brightened by nearly 100 times in visible light. Music: "Water Dance" and "Alternate Worlds" from Universal Production Music A sudden reversal of the magnetic field around its million-solar-mass black hole may have triggered the outburst.Ĭredit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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