Rare light cycle of 433 days found in black hole after 19 years of monitoring

New Delhi. Scientists have achieved great success in understanding the mysteries of the universe. A team of Indian and international scientists has discovered a rare light cycle associated with a giant black hole after 19 years of continuous study. This discovery is considered important in understanding the functioning of black holes and active galaxies.

Scientists have recorded a light pattern in an extremely bright blazar called ‘3C 454.3’, which repeats approximately every 433 days. This study was done under the ‘Whole Earth Blazer Telescope’ project. Research revealed that the brightness of this celestial body keeps increasing and decreasing at regular intervals. In scientific language this phenomenon is called ‘Optical Quasi-Periodic Oscillation’ (QPO).




  • In this important research Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences Scientists have also played a major role. According to scientists, this type of light cycle was till now seen mainly in X-ray signals, but its finding in visible light is considered extremely rare and important.

    Scientists said that ‘3C 454.3’ is a blazar, which is a special type of active galaxy. There is a very huge black hole present in the center of such galaxies, which rapidly swallows the gas and dust around it. During this process a huge amount of energy is produced and the center of the galaxy becomes extremely bright. When that powerful jet of energy is in the direction of the Earth, then it is called a blazar.

    According to researchers, the redshift of 3C 454.3 is 0.86, which means its light takes billions of years to reach Earth. The mass of the black hole present in its center has been estimated to be equal to about 50 crore to 230 crore suns.

    Scientists believe that this discovery will help in better understanding the processes of powerful jets, magnetic fields and energy emissions formed around the black hole. This is expected to provide a new direction to future research on the most energetic sources of the universe.

    Comments are closed.