The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) successfully
captured a detailed image of
high density molecular gas around an active galactic nucleus harboring a
supermassive black hole.
The observations at the highest ever achieved reveal a unique chemical
composition characterized by enhancement of hydrogen cyanide (HCN)
around the black hole. An research team thought a high temperature
affected by the black hole caused this peculiar chemical properties. The
team expect that this unique chemical properties
can be used to find black holes hidden behind dust.
Spiral galaxy NGC 1097 observed with European Southern Observatory’s
Very large Telescope in optical wavelength (left) and the central 2100
light years observed with ALMA (right). The ALMA observations reveal
intense emission from dust around the central black hole and in the
circum-nuclear star burst ring. The star sign shows the location of the
emission peak in near infrared, which reflects the star formation
activity, whereas the central plus sign shows the location of the radio
emission peak in the wavelength of 6 cm which comes from the active
supermassive black hole. The emission peak position in the ALMA image
agrees well with that of 6 cm emission. This ensures that ALMA detects
the emission from the vicinity of the central black hole.
The research findings are presented in the article “Submillimeter ALMA
Observation of the Dense Gas in the Low-Luminosity Type-1 Active Nucleus
of NGC 1097” published in the Publication of the Astronomical Society
of Japan, Vol. 65, of October 25, 2013.
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