NASA's Hubble and Chandra telescopes discover a strange 'sideways' black hole in a cosmic crime scene (image)

NASA discovers a sideways black hole in galaxy NGC 5084 using Hubble and Chandra telescopes.

: NASA's Hubble and Chandra telescopes have detected a 'sideways' black hole in galaxy NGC 5084 in Virgo, 80 million light-years away. Researchers were alerted by unusual X-ray plumes forming an 'X' shape, a feature previously unseen. This peculiar alignment may result from a galactic collision, suggested by data from Hubble and ALMA. The findings highlight the utility of archival data and new analytic methods like SAUNAS.

NASA's Hubble and Chandra telescopes have identified a peculiar 'sideways' black hole within galaxy NGC 5084, situated approximately 80 million light-years from Earth in the Virgo constellation. This discovery was prompted by an anomalous structure—two intersecting plasma plumes emitting X-rays, forming an 'X' shape within the galaxy, which directed scientists to the unusual orientation of the black hole.

Intriguingly, the black hole's rotated position may be the result of a significant collision event in the galaxy's past, described metaphorically as a 'cosmic hit and run.' Through archival data from Chandra and new observations from instruments such as the Hubble and the ALMA in Chile, researchers confirmed the tipped-off orientation of the black hole and the dusty ring surrounding it.

The innovative image processing method, Selective Amplification of Ultra Noisy Astronomical Signal (SAUNAS), was instrumental in detecting the low-brightness X-ray emissions that led to this breakthrough. The work not only showcases the power of historical data, dating back decades, but also advances techniques for analyzing such data, as demonstrated by Alejandro Serrano Borlaff and his team.

black holeNGC 5084astronomy