Czech scientists map black holes

Scientists from the Astronomical Institute of Czech Academy of Sciences have developed a program to help map the nearest surroundings of the black hole.

A black hole curves time and space around itself so that light can’t escape. The black hole itself isn’t visible, but the material falling into it is. This area is called the corona.

The ASCR team has developed a program that can simulate the echoes of corona X-rays from the so-called accretion disk near black holes.

Scientists first used the XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory to map around a black hole at the core of galaxy IRAS 13224-3809. This galaxy is one of the most active sources of X-rays in the sky. The observation lasted more than 23 days.

Astronomers searched for echoes of corona reflected from the disk to map the geometry of the area. However, they noticed that the corona changed its size very quickly within a few days.

Researching the proximity patterns of black holes is one of the main objectives of the Athena satellite, which the European Space Agency (ESA) is planning to launch in the next decade.