Study Overview
The Ministry of Science & Technology announced a high‑resolution radio survey that has revealed a previously hidden population of faintly active supermassive black holes in nearby galaxies. The work was led by an international team that included Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) faculty Dr. Aru Beri.
Key Developments
- Observations of 280 galaxies from the Palomar sample using the e-MERLIN array achieved parsec‑scale resolution.
- Compact radio emission was detected in nearly one‑quarter of the galaxies, indicating weakly accreting black holes that are missed by conventional surveys.
- A subset of detections showed jet‑like structures extending several parsecs.
- Complementary X‑ray data from the Chandra X‑ray Observatory confirmed that the radio sources are powered by active black holes, not by star‑formation or supernova remnants.
Important Facts
The survey is one of the first statistically complete high‑resolution radio studies capable of isolating faint black‑hole activity. Earlier work lacked either the sensitivity or the angular resolution to separate nuclear emission from surrounding stellar processes, or it examined smaller, biased samples. By targeting a large, well‑defined set of galaxies, the researchers systematically uncovered low‑level activity that may dominate black‑hole growth in the present‑day Universe.
The findings were published in the