One of the brightest transient events is the result of a supermassive black hole beginning to feast on surrounding matter, resulting in one of the most dramatic ‘switching on’ events ever seen. Transients are astronomical events or objects that change in brightness over short periods of time, and the one powered by this greedy black hole, J221951-484240, is one of the brightest transients ever recorded.
The position of the black hole corresponds with the centre of a previously observed galaxy – just where a supermassive black hole would be expected to sit. However, astronomers still aren’t sure exactly what is causing the transient event witnessed in J221951. “Our understanding of the different things that supermassive black holes can do has greatly expanded in recent years, with discoveries of stars being torn apart and accreting black holes with hugely variable luminosities,” Queen’s University Belfast astronomer Matt Nicholl said. “J221951 is one of the most extreme examples yet of a black hole taking us by surprise.”
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