Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered a disc very close to a starving black hole – something that should not be there – based on current astronomical theories.
The unexpected thin disc of material was found encircling a supermassive black hole at the heart of the spiral galaxy NGC 3147, located 130 million light-years away, according to a study publishedin the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The presence of the black hole disc in such a low-luminosity active galaxy has astronomers surprised.
Black holes in certain types of galaxies such as NGC 3147 are considered to be starving as there is insufficient gravitationally captured material to feed them regularly.
It is therefore puzzling that there is a thin disc encircling a starving black hole that mimics the much larger discs found in extremely active galaxies, the study said.
The disc’s material was measured by Hubble to be whirling around the black hole at more than 10 percent of the speed of light.
