Milky Way's first microblazar may produce fastest particles in the galaxy

An international team of astronomers from ASTRON, JIVE, the University of Amsterdam, and other institutions has found the first so-called "microblazar" in the Milky Way. The object, IRAS 18293−0941, consists of a black hole about 10 times the mass of our sun and a hot, massive star orbiting each other every 11 days. The jet from the black hole is pointed toward Earth and interacts with a molecular cloud, accelerating particles to ultra-high energies. This makes the microblazar one of the most powerful particle accelerators in the galaxy, about 100 times stronger than the Large Hadron Collider. The research was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The study reveals that the jet from the black hole interacts with a dense molecular cloud, creating a bright spot where the interstellar material is ionized and heated. Here, particles are accelerated to nearly the speed of light, with energies up to petaelectronvolts. The interaction is observed through radio, optical, X-ray, and gamma-ray telescopes. The discovery sheds new light on the origins of the most energetic particles in the Milky Way and provides a model for similar systems in other galaxies. The microblazar's jet can be associated with cosmic ray observatories on Earth, where particles with energies reaching up to petaelectronvolts have been detected.

The research was part of a multiwavelength observational campaign using various telescopes. The object was already cataloged in 1983 and was previously noted for its radio emission. The findings highlight the importance of studying the universe with different kinds of telescopes simultaneously. The discovery allows for detailed study of blazar physics and has implications for galactic star formation and the structure of galaxies like the Milky Way. The study is published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

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