Scientists have managed for the first time not just to calculate on paper, but literally to “witness” how a black hole distorts time and space around itself. In astrophysics, this phenomenon is known as the Lense-Thirring precession—an effect that existed in the equations of general relativity for over a century but remained inaccessible to direct observation. Now, physicists possess concrete data confirming that a black hole’s rotation can twist spacetime itself.
For a long time, the precession was described only in models: a massive rotating object slightly “drags” the fabric of spacetime along with it. On Earth, this effect is so slight that it is nearly impossible to discern. But near a black hole, the situation changes drastically: gravity there is so potent that the geometry of spacetime is literally deformed.
The breakthrough became possible thanks to the flare AT2020afhd—the event of a star being destroyed by a supermassive black hole. Flying too close, the star was stretched by tidal forces, and its matter formed a superheated accretion disk around the hole. Jets—narrow streams of matter moving at nearly the speed of light—erupted from its inner regions.
Astronomers noticed something peculiar: both the inner zones of the disk and the jets themselves began to seemingly “nod,” altering their orientation with a period of about 20 days. These oscillations were registered across all bands—from radio waves to X-rays—and manifested synchronously, ruling out random fluctuations or instrument noise.
Detailed analysis revealed that the source of this “nodding” is precisely the black hole’s rotation, which warps and twists spacetime, compelling the disk and jets to shift direction. The observed effect is the Lense-Thirring precession, documented for the first time on a real astrophysical body.
Such observations transition the curvature of spacetime from the realm of pure theory into the sphere of practical modern astrophysics—on par with gravitational waves and the search for exoplanets. Recording the precession shows that the Universe is much more dynamic than it appears: space itself can move, “flow,” and interact with matter. Subsequently, similar effects will help verify general relativity with greater precision under extreme conditions and possibly bring physicists closer to unifying gravity and the quantum world into a single picture, reports AiF.
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