English 
Spanish 
4 min read
0 comments
Scientists find cosmic object near Earth emitting radiation at record levels
Astronomy is a science full of surprises and discoveries that change our view of the cosmos. Recently, astronomers revealed one such shocking discovery: the most intense gamma rays in the universe do not come from supermassive quasars as we thought, but rather from a small microquasar in our galaxy called V4641 Sagittarii. Located in the constellation Sagittarius, 20.000 light-years from Earth, this microquasar is a true cosmic “heavyweight.”
What is V4641 Sagittarius?
V4641 Sagittarii is a binary system where a black hole with a mass six times that of the Sun orbits a star that is three times more massive than the Sun. This black hole not only orbits its stellar companion, but also feeds on it, sucking in material and emitting radiation intense — like a “little monster" cosmic. With this dynamic, the system generates immense energies, similar to the powerful quasars that inhabit the nucleus of distant galaxies.
The discovery of gamma rays at 200 TeV
To put the magnitude of this discovery into perspective, we need to understand the numbers. Gamma rays emitted by V4641 Sagittarii reach a staggering 200 teraelectronvolts (TeV), 200 trillion times more energetic than visible light! Until recently, it was believed that such extreme energies could only be generated in quasars, where supermassive black holes devour matter. But it seems that V4641 Sagittarii is an exception to this rule.
- China wants to compete with Elon Musk's Starlink: US$943 million to launch 13.000 satellites and revolutionize the global internet
- The Navy's F-35C Fighter Jet: 10 Reasons Why It's China's BIGGEST Nightmare
- The Great Pyramid of Giza is made up of 2,3 million blocks — each block weighs on average about 2,5 tons
- Does Elon Musk's Starlink have a rival in Belarus? The Kulisa system promises satellite connectivity with 35-year-old technology
This defiance of expectations has been made clear by the work of scientists like Sabrina Casanova of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. According to Casanova, photos of microquasars usually have much lower energies. However, an analysis of V4641 Sagittarii revealed photons thousands of times more energetic, a discovery that challenges our understanding of cosmic powers.
How the discovery was made
The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) gamma-ray observatory, located in the Sierra Negra mountains of Mexico, was instrumental in this discovery. With a unique configuration of 300 purified water tanks, HAWC is able to capture high-altitude particles. the energy that pass through the Earth's atmosphere, allowing scientists to identify Cherenkov radiation — a luminous “shock wave” that points to the cosmic origin of these particles.
HAWC’s wide-angle view, covering 15 percent of the sky at any given time, makes it ideal for monitoring vast regions of space continuously. And it was during this cosmic surveillance that HAWC physicist and researcher Xiaojie Wang spotted something unusual: a bright spot of gamma rays appearing in an area where there had previously been no known signal. Out of scientific curiosity, Wang delved deeper into his analysis, discovering the extraordinary intensity of V4641 Sagittarii’s gamma rays.
The impact of the discovery on science
The discovery of V4641 Sagittarii goes far beyond our galaxy. It raises new questions about the ability of microquasars to generate extreme energies, a phenomenon that was previously believed to be exclusive to quasars. Other microquasars, such as SS 433, have been reported to emit images above 25 TeV, but nothing that comes close to the 200 TeV of V4641 Sagittarii. This value puts the microquasar at a power level similar to that of quasars billions of light-years away, indicating that even small black holes can act as large-scale particle accelerators.
Furthermore, microquasars offer a unique opportunity to study cosmic processes. While quasars reveal their physics over millions of years, microquasars like V4641 Sagittarii perform the same “maneuvers” in a matter of days or weeks, allowing scientists to follow the evolution of these processes at an accelerated pace.
What does this mean for the future of astronomy?
The discovery of V4641 Sagittarii is a milestone that promises to change our approach to studying the universe. We now know that microquasars can be natural laboratories of high-energy physics, making it easier to study features that we would otherwise only see in galaxies billions of light-years away. It is as if the cosmos is giving us a “free sample” of its deepest secrets, bringing us closer to previously unattainable details.
This breakthrough could inspire new missions and observatories dedicated to observing these cosmic “mini accelerators,” helping us better understand the mechanisms that govern the extreme energies of the universe. And who knows what else we might discover in our own galaxy?
In a universe of constant surprises, V4641 Sagittarii is a reminder that even in the vicinity of our galaxy, the cosmos still holds mysteries beyond our imagination. And with technological advances and the insatiable curiosity of scientists, each discovery like this brings us a little closer to understanding the secrets of the universe.
