Breakthrough Study Reveals Winds from Milky Way's Supermassive Black Hole
Astronomers just solved a 50-year-old mystery about the Milky Way’s black hole

Image: Scientificamerican
Astronomers have discovered that Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, emits a hot wind, challenging previous assumptions that black holes are isolated. This finding, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, enhances understanding of black hole behavior and their interaction with surrounding gas.
- 01Sagittarius A* is 1.3 trillion times heavier than Earth and emits a hot wind, a phenomenon never observed before.
- 02The discovery was made using five years of data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.
- 03The research team identified a cone-shaped cavity nearly three light-years long surrounding the black hole.
- 04More gas is ejected from the black hole than is consumed, due to radiation pressure and eruptions.
- 05This finding helps explain the previously unexplained absence of winds from Sagittarius A*.
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Astronomers have made a significant discovery regarding Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. This black hole, which is 1.3 trillion times heavier than Earth, has been found to emit a hot wind, a phenomenon that had not been observed before. The research, led by Elena Murchikova from Northwestern University, utilized five years of data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile. By analyzing this data, the team was able to visualize the cold molecular gas surrounding Sagittarius A* and identify a cone-shaped cavity nearly three light-years long. The findings suggest that as gas approaches the black hole, it heats up and orbits at near-light speeds, forming an accretion disk. Interestingly, more gas is expelled outward than is consumed by the black hole, which could reshape our understanding of black hole dynamics and their interactions with their environments.
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