Scientists discover a black hole that burps, not once but twice

According to a report in The TeCake, the image of the galaxy harboring the massive black hole was first released by the scientists during American Astronomical Society’s winter meeting in National Harbor.

What makes the finding unique is the fact that while scientists already knew about the existence of black holes that belch, this is the first time a black hole that burps, not once but twice, has actually been traced.

“We know a lot of examples of black holes with single burps emanating out, but we discovered a galaxy with a supermassive black hole that has not one but two burps,” Julie Comerford, an astronomer at the University of Colorado Boulder, was quoted saying in the report.

According to the scientists working at the Chandra observatory, there is a gap of around 100,000 years between the two burps.

According to them, the first the case of burping of galaxy occurred when electrons got stripped from atoms about 30,000 light years south from the galaxy’s center, followed by a second burp 100,000 years later when the black hole engulfed a different clump of cosmic gas.

The second time, the burp was in form of shockwaves similar to sonic booms that occurred to the north of galaxy, almost 3000 light years away from the black hole. Scientists also found that the supermassive black hole is surrounded by a thick cloud of cosmic dust and gas.