Breakthrough Discovery: Wind from Milky Way’s Black Hole Reveals Long-Standing Mystery
Wind from Milky Way’s black hole solves a 50-year-old mystery

Image: The Independent
Astronomers have resolved a 50-year-old mystery regarding Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, by detecting its wind. This discovery, made using advanced observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile, enhances understanding of the black hole's influence on galactic evolution.
- 01The research was led by astronomers Mark Gorski and Elena Murchikova.
- 02Observations from ALMA provided an image that is 100 times deeper and 80 times sharper than previous maps.
- 03The study identified a massive, cone-shaped region devoid of gas, attributed to the wind from Sagittarius A*.
- 04This wind is produced as the black hole consumes surrounding material, confirming a characteristic behavior of black holes.
- 05The findings suggest that Sagittarius A* is currently in a quieter phase, impacting the understanding of its role in galaxy growth.
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Astronomers have made a significant breakthrough in understanding Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole located at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, by detecting its wind, which has puzzled scientists for 50 years. This discovery was made possible through five years of observations using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescopes in Chile, which provided an image that is 100 times deeper and 80 times sharper than previous maps. The research team, led by Mark Gorski and Elena Murchikova, identified a massive, cone-shaped region devoid of gas, which they concluded could only have been formed by the hot wind emitted from Sagittarius A*. This finding confirms that, similar to most black holes, Sagittarius A* generates a wind as it consumes surrounding material, despite earlier challenges in detecting it due to obscuring gas and dust. The observations indicate that Sagittarius A* is currently in a quieter phase, providing valuable insights into the black hole's role in influencing the growth and evolution of the galaxy.
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