“Mind-Blowing” Hot Gas Bubble Detected Zipping Around the Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole



Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, astronomers have discovered evidence of a "hot spot" orbiting Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the heart of our galaxy (ALMA). The discovery aids in our understanding of the mysterious and dynamic surroundings of our supermassive black hole.

We believe we are seeing a hot gas bubble whirling around Sagittarius A* in an orbit that is roughly the same size as Mercury's but completes one full cycle in only around 70 minutes. This calls for a staggering velocity of roughly 30% of the speed of light! explains Maciek Wielgus of the Bonn, Germany-based Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. He oversaw the research that was reported in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics today, September 22, 2022.

This image depicts a still of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* as seen by the Event Horizon Collaboration (EHT), along with an artist's rendering showing the location of the hot spot and its orbit as predicted by modeling of the ALMA data. Credit: M. Kornmesser/ESO/EHT Collaboration (Acknowledgment: M. Wielgus)

The observations were made with ALMA in the Chilean Andes as part of an effort to image black holes by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration. ALMA is a radio telescope that the European Southern Observatory shares ownership of (ESO). The first-ever image of Sagittarius A* was recently revealed as a result of the EHT's April 2017 connection of eight active radio telescopes globally, including ALMA. Members of the EHT Collaboration Wielgus and his team used ALMA data collected concurrently with the EHT observations of Sagittarius A* to calibrate the EHT data. Unexpectedly, the ALMA-only data revealed more hints about the black hole's characteristics.

With the aid of ALMA, scientists have discovered a hot gas bubble that rotates at 30% the speed of light around Sagittarius A*, the galaxy's central black hole.

By happenstance, some of the observations were made just after the Chandra X-ray Observatory of NASA observed an X-ray flare or burst coming from the core of our galaxy. These flares, which have been previously seen with X-ray and infrared instruments, are likely to be connected to heated gas bubbles known as "hot spots" that orbit the black hole very quickly.

The fact that these flares were previously only plainly visible in X-ray and infrared views of Sagittarius A* is what makes them so novel and intriguing. According to Wielgus, who is also connected to the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center in Warsaw, Poland, and the Black Hole Initiative at Harvard University, USA, "here we observe for the first time a very strong signal that circling hot spots are also present in radio data.

The hot spot should dim and brighten as it circles the black hole, according to the astronomers who made the discovery, as shown in this animation. They can also deduce that the gas bubble takes 70 minutes to complete an orbit, which would put its velocity at an astounding 30% of the speed of light.

As infrared-emitting hot spots cool down, they become visible at longer wavelengths, like the ones identified by ALMA and the EHT, says Jesse Vos. "Perhaps these hot spots detected at infrared wavelengths are a manifestation of the same physical phenomena," he continues. He participated in this study while pursuing his PhD at Radboud University in the Netherlands.

The latest findings are consistent with the long-held theory that the flares are caused by magnetic interactions in the extremely hot plasma orbiting extremely near to Sagittarius A*. Now, we have solid proof that these flares have magnetic origins, and our observations help us understand the geometry of the process. The new data are very useful for developing a theoretical interpretation of these events, according to Radboud University co-author Monika Moscibrodzka.

The supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy, Sgr A*, has finally been captured on camera. It provides the first concrete visual proof of the black hole's existence. The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an array that connected eight already-existing radio observatories around the planet to create a single "Earth-sized" virtual telescope, was able to capture it. The event horizon, the edge of the black hole past which no light can escape, is the inspiration for the name of the telescope. Credit: EHT Partnership

Astronomers may examine Sagittarius Apolarized *'s radio emission with ALMA, which reveals the magnetic field of the black hole. To understand more about the creation of the hot spot and the environment it is enmeshed in, particularly the magnetic field surrounding Sagittarius A*, the team used these data in conjunction with theoretical models. Their work helps astronomers understand the characteristics of our black hole and its environs by offering tighter restrictions than earlier measurements on the form of this magnetic field.

The location of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, as well as the Milky Way are both visible in this image taken by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The photo of Sagittarius A* taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration is highlighted in the box. The most sensitive observatory in the EHT array, ALMA is situated in Chile's Atacama Desert. ESO is a co-owner of ALMA on behalf of its European Member States. Credit: EHT Collaboration with ESO/José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)

The infrared data from the GRAVITY instrument at ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) support some of the earlier findings. The data from GRAVITY and ALMA both indicate that the flare originates in a mass of gas that is orbiting the black hole almost face-on and moving at a speed of around 30% of the speed of light in a clockwise direction.

"In the future, we should be able to track hot spots across frequencies using coordinated multiwavelength observations with both GRAVITY and ALMA," says co-author Ivan Marti-Vidal of the University of València in Spain. "The success of such an endeavor would be a true milestone for our understanding of the physics of flares in the Galactic center."

The Milky Way's core as seen in wide-field. This visible light wide-field image points toward the galactic core and reveals the dense star clouds in the Sagittarius (the Archer) constellation. There are countless stars throughout the entire image, but many more are still buried by dust clouds and can only be seen in infrared photographs. This image was produced using images taken with red and blue light as part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Approximately 3.5 degrees by 3.6 degrees make up the field of view. Credit: Digital Sky Survey 2 and ESO. Davide De Martin and S. Guisard are thanked (www.eso.org/sguisard).

In order to go closer to the black hole and understand more about it, the team is also aiming to be able to directly see the orbiting gas clumps with the EHT. Wielgus says, "Hopefully, one day, we will feel confident declaring that we 'know' what is going on in Sagittarius A*.

The team is made up of M. Wielgus from the Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie in Germany, M. Moscibrodzka from the Department of Astrophysics at Radboud University in the Netherlands, J. Vos from Radboud, Z. Gelles from the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard & Smithsonian in the United States and the Black Hole Initiative from Las Cumbres University in Nevada, I. Mart-Vidal from the Universitat de (Joint ALMA Observatory, Chile).

A collaboration between ESO, the National Science Foundation of the United States (NSF), the National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan (NINS), and the Republic of Chile has resulted in the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), an international astronomy facility. ESO funds ALMA on behalf of its Member States, NSF collaborates with the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), and NINS collaborates with the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute and Academia Sinica (AS) in Taiwan (KASI). The National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), run by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), is in charge of ALMA construction and operations on behalf of North America; the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), on behalf of East Asia; and ESO, on behalf of its Member States. The building, commissioning, and ongoing management of ALMA are coordinated by the Joint ALMA Observatory (JAO).

By EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY (ESO) 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do You Sleep on Your Back or Side? Here's The Research on 'Optimal' Sleep Positions

Image
William Dement, a renowned sleep researcher at Stanford University, is quoted as saying that after 50 years of study, the only reason he can think of for why we sleep is "because we become sleepy." Sleep certainly matters for our health and wellbeing even though it may be, as one researcher put it, "the sole major habit in quest of a function." Do we, however, have it right? What do studies on sleeping positions say? Is there a proper sleeping position? The majority of people favor sleeping on their side. This is encouraging news because people who sleep on their backs are more likely to have trouble falling asleep or breathing during the night. Most of the time, we have a tendency to shift around quite a bit at night. According to a study involving 664 sleepers, on average, participants slept on their side 54% of the time, their back 37% of the time, and their front 7% of the time. Males are more likely to change positions throughout the night and move their arms, ...
Read more

The Science of Beards

Image
Here are a few facts that scientists have learned about beards as the world prepares to celebrate amazing facial hair on World Beard Day (September 3). Strong Manly Beard Men who have beards appear to be more dominant, aggressive, and strong, according to numerous studies[1][2][3] that have been conducted. In fact, men claim that growing facial hair makes them feel[4] more manly. Men who choose to grow beards tend to have higher testosterone levels than men who choose to keep their faces clean-shaven, according to research. They are also more likely to be hostile sexists, or to support the patriarchy and male dominance, as well as to believe that women belong in the kitchen, according to research on this topic. The beards (and muscles) on these males might be used to enforce gender roles. Professor R. D. Guthrie proposed in his book "Evolution of human threat display organs" from the 1970s that beards could be utilized to scare male rivals by improving aggressive and threaten...
Read more

Scientists Uncover a Surprising Connection Between Appetite and Sun Exposure

Image
Recent studies from Tel Aviv University show that women are not affected by sun exposure on their hunger levels, but males are. The study shows how the metabolic pathway is engaged differently in men and women. It was carried out utilizing lab models. Males of both animal and human species, as well as those exposed to the sun, are reportedly triggered to produce a protein called p53 that repairs any DNA damage that may have been done to the skin as a result of the exposure. The body produces the hunger-inducing hormone ghrelin in response to p53 activation. In females, the hormone estrogen stops p53 from interacting with ghrelin, preventing the desire to eat after being in the sun. The ground-breaking investigation was directed by professor Carmit Levy and Ph.D. candidate Shivang Parikh of the Department of Human Genetics and Biochemistry at TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine. In addition to the Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov), Assuta, Meir, and Sheba Medical Centers, Drs. Yiftach Gepne...
Read more