The international group of astrophysics from South Africa, Great Britain, France and the United States first discovered a strongly twisted accretion disk from a black hole. The unique opening is reported in the article published in the MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY.
Flash emanating from Maxi J1820 + 070, found in March 2018 with the help of a Japanese X-ray telescope on board the International Space Station. The space object is removed at a distance of 9600 light years and is a double system: its companion is a star with a small mass of such a sun. Maxi J1820 + 070 contains a black hole that is at least eight times the mass of our Sun.
Maxi J1820 + 070 is one of the three brightest X-ray transients ever observed. It affects its proximity to the ground and a convenient location outside the zone of avoiding the Milky Way. Scientists visualized the double object and showed how X-ray radiation emanating from the black hole affects the surrounding substance and the accretion disk, heating it to a temperature of about ten thousand Kelvinov and forcing the visible light.
Three months after the outbreak in the optical shine curve, significant fluctuations were manifested for about 17 hours. At the same time, the X-ray component of the radiation remained stable, that is, he could not affect the optical curve. Scientists explain this by the fact that X-ray radiation caused a strong deformation of the disk. At the same time, the disc area increased, which caused an increase in the brightness of the object.
This behavior was observed in X-ray double systems with more massive donor stars, but never found in black holes with a donor with a small mass. According to scientists, it opens up completely new opportunities for studying the structure and properties of curved accretion disks.