Malaysian astrophysics PhD student Nur Adlyka Ainul Annuar is amongst a gaggle of astronomers who’ve discovered evidence of black holes in our cosmic “backyard,” presented this morning during a press conference on the American Astronomical Society meeting in Grapevine, Texas.
Adlyka, who’s currently pursuing her PhD on the Centre for Extragalactic Astronomy at Durham University within the UK, was amongst British researchers who conducted an evaluation of the US space agency NASA’s latest X-ray telescope, called NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array).
During a presentation on “Black Holes, Green Galaxies, Old Stars, and NuSTAR,” her research showed that the galaxy has a thick column of gas that hides the central black hole.
Adlyka said: “These black holes are relatively near the Milky Way, but until now they’ve remained hidden from us.
“They’re just like the monsters hiding under your bed. Their latest discoveries definitely raise the query of what number of more supermassive black holes we’re missing, even in our nearby universe.”
Adlyka, whose research focuses on trying to search out lively supermassive black holes which are surrounded by thick clouds of gas and dirt in our universe, said: “NuSTAR can detect high-energy X-ray emission from a black hole that is able to penetrate thick layers of gas and dust.”
“Finding these hidden beasts is very important for better understanding the development of supermassive black holes and how they co-evolved with their host galaxies.”
Supermassive black holes are those whose mass is a minimum of one million times greater than the mass of the Sun.
Adlyka, who hails from Muar Johor, also has a BSc in Physics and Astrophysics from the University of Sheffield within the UK. The Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) Scholar is predicted to finish her PhD in Astrophysics by the top of July 2017.
Source : New times of the Strait
