“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 predicte...