Why this latest discovery on black hole has ‘surprised’ NASA scientists

NASA scientists have recently made a startling discovery about a “tipped over” black hole which is located in the galaxy NGC 5084.

The findings are a result of years of data analysis and new imaging techniques and have left astronomers intrigued since the black hole is behaving in an “unexpected way”.

Though NGC 5084 has been known to astronomers for years, a fresh look at old data, combined with new investigative methods, has revealed a peculiar phenomenon at the galaxy’s core.

Researchers from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California used a new technique to analyze data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which offers insights into the behavior of a supermassive black hole.

The study found the presence of four long plumes of hot, charged gas, which is known as plasma, shooting out from the black hole.

Two pairs of plumes were detected, one pair extending above and below the plane of the galaxy, while the other pair lies within the galaxy plane, forming an “X” shape with the first.

These X-shaped plumes are highly unusual since most galaxies typically have only one or two of such plumes.

The discovery prompted the team to investigate further. They later found a small dusty disk rotating at the galaxy’s center. The disk was an additional clue suggesting the presence of a supermassive black hole.

What made this discovery even more remarkable was the orientation of the black hole and its disk.

The team found that both were rotating at a 90-degree angle relative to the rest of the galaxy, meaning the black hole and its disk are essentially “lying on their sides.”

This tipped position is a puzzling feature that adds a new layer to our understanding of black hole behaviour.

Alejandro Serrano Borlaff, a research scientist at NASA, called the discovery as “like seeing a crime scene with multiple types of light.”

By combining data from various telescopes and imaging techniques, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile, the team pieced together a picture of a galaxy which has undergone significant changes in its recent past.

Pamela Marcum, an astrophysicist at Ames, said: “Detecting two pairs of X-ray plumes in one galaxy is exceptional.”

She explained that the combination of the unusual X-shaped plasma and the “tipped-over,” dusty disk provides unique insights into the galaxy’s history.

While the cause of the black hole’s tilt remains unclear, one possibility is that NGC 5084 may have collided with another galaxy. This could haveled to the formation of a chimney of superheated gas. The disturbance could explain the unusual plumes and the black hole’s tilted orientation.

The findings were published on December 18, 2024 in The Astrophysical Journal.