Using an array of ALMA radio telescopes, astronomers managed to get the most detailed snapshot of the microquasar SS 433, which was opened more than forty years ago and has since been a valuable object for researchers studying the phenomenon of these exotic systems and the jets emitted by them.
SS 433 is located at a distance of about 18 thousand light years from Earth in the direction of the Eagle constellation. The image, first obtained at submillimeter wavelengths with ALMA, differs from the previous ones in that it shows jets ejected by a hot, fast-rotating disk that surrounds a black hole in the center of the microquasar.
-the European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Microquasars are binary stellar systems in which the remnant of the first, compressed into a compact object (such as a neutron star or a black hole), is gravitationally associated with a second ordinary star moving in close orbit around the first component.
In such extreme systems, matter is accreted onto a neutron star or a black hole, accompanied by sporadic outbursts with the near-light speed of jets of matter, so-called jets. This gives an observable picture that is close to that seen in the case of quasars, that is, supermassive black holes actively eating matter in the centers of galaxies.
In the case of SS 433, the form of a microquasar resembles a corkscrew associated with the phenomenon of precession – when spreading in space, the jets slowly rotate around their axes, much like a gyroscope or a slowing top, while the orientation of their axes of rotation changes. The diameter of this corkscrew is huge, it is about 5 thousand times larger than the size of the solar system.
Another remarkable aspect of the observations made at ALMA is that the shape of this object was previously predicted by spectroscopic measurements made on GlobalJetWatch telescopes last year. Comparison of these observations allowed the researchers to make and verify predictions regarding the direction and trajectories of the jets.
The work carried out became an important stage in the research of microquasars and helped finally answer the question of why jets remain so hot at such great distances from the point of their origin.
The high sensitivity of the ALMA telescope allowed the researchers to prove that the plasma heats up again when successive shock waves propagate and collide with each other.
-ESO
Microquasar SS 433 – one of the most exotic objects in space
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