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The colorful image of the newly opened candidate for echo from the light of the black hole, which may be one of the largest ever found. | Credit: Julian Shapiro, Chileska T1
Anaheim, California – long after black hole In the center of the galactic outside, you can still see her ghost, which lingers in its surrounding gas clouds, agrees with residual radiation, such as strands of smoke arising from an already extinguished flame. Astronomers call these cosmic ghosts “light echo” and this is what the high school junior Julian Shapiro Found while scanning space for supernova residues.
“There are these external gas areas ionized by an over -fat black hole that leads to this echo,” Shapiro said on a presentation on March 20 here at the Summit of the Global Physics of American Physical Society in 2025.
The 17 -year -old Shapiro is a student at the Dalton school in New York. But between the classes and the consideration of potential colleges, it is also an independent astronomer that presents at global conferences such as APS meeting this week.
Shapiro initially began to sift through Decaps2 Survey – Inventory of the Southern Galactic Plain of the Dark Energy camera in Inter -American Observatory Sero Tololo In Chile – to find the debris of exploding stars in the remains of supernov and planetary NebulaS
But after joining such an object, he discovered that its structure did not coincide with the foggy filaments characteristic of the remnant of the supernova, nor did it show evidence of the supernova in its center. “It was a real surprise to come across this,” Shapiro told Live Science.
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The object, which he believes is a light echo, stands in a field of potential over -fat black holes. Use of measurements from South African large telescopeIt found a high content of oxygen and ionized sulfur, sprinkled in the region – both indicators of shocked material. All these signs suggest that the object is the monitoring of an already ancient black hole, which once ejects radiation that ionizes the surrounding gas, which causes it to emit light even after the black hole calms down.
Epic echo
Currently, Shapiro attaches the light echo with a diameter of about 150,000 to 250,000 light years-about 1.5 to twice the width of the entire galaxy of the Milky Way. And if his grades stay, he believes that this can be a viable candidate for the biggest light echo ever found.
“This site covers a large area in the sky, which makes it a little easier to obtain in-depth images of,” Shapiro said.
According to Sasha PlavinA researcher of black holes from a Harvard University who did not participate in research, echo as the discovery Shapiro can help us learn more about how black holes in the hearts of galaxies behave.
“I really like how carefully [Shapiro] Seen in these images, “Plavin told Live Science.” These galactic events are always of interest and I think these echoes are a great way to study them. “
Plavin is also interested in seeing this new light echo measures to others -whether it happened faster or more slowly than existing examplesS “Putting this discovery in a broader context can be useful in the future,” he said.
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While Shapiro continues to study the light echo, he hopes to learn more about his composition with measurements in its various regions. But in the meantime, he is excited to continue to contribute to the science of Black Hole – even if he encounters this by accident.
“My participation in this area of study came as a surprise to me,” he said. “But I hope that this site, more special, helps to expand knowledge of galactic activities, for which we do not have a very big understanding.”