Using the ALMA observation tower , scientists have detected a previously undocumented stripe of coolheaded gas envelop around the black muddle at the core of our galaxy .
The immediate expanse surrounding the supermassive black hole is kind of intense . call Sagittarius A * , this colossus has a volume around 4 million times that of our Sun . As befits a supermassive black muddle of that sizing , it has managed , through its intense gravitational influence , to collect an potpourri of cosmogonic wonder , include contrary whizz , troves of interstellar dust , and various gases .
Much of the gas collected by Sagittarius A * orbit the black hole in an accretion phonograph record . This donut - similar ring extends from the smuggled gob ’s outcome horizon to a few tenths of a easy - year away . Astronomers had antecedently discover a blazingly hot banding of gas within this accumulation disk , which — weirdly — didn’t show any signs of revolution around the black pickle . Newresearchpublished today in Nature now describes a disk of cool interstellar gas , along with evidence of move within the accretion phonograph record .
Artist’s impression of the accretion disk surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.Image: (NRAO/AUI/NSF; S. Dagnello)
“ We were the first to image this elusive disk and study its gyration , ” Elena Murchikova , the lead author of the young paper and an astrophysicist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton , enunciate in areleasefrom the National Radio Astronomy Observatory .
As note , astronomers had previously conquer evidence of the hot dower of the gaseous gang . And by hot , we ’re not kidding . Its temperature is around 10 million level Celsius ( 18 million degrees Fahrenheit ) , which is two - thirds the temperature establish at the core of the Sun . When accelerator gets this raging , it emit X - irradiation light that can be detected from Earth . Astronomers had also previously detected cool gun near the black hole , but nowhere near the accretion disk .
To be absolved , the “ tank gas ” is just cool by comparison ; it ’s still around 10,000 degree Celsius , or 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit . The relationship , if any , between this coolheaded flatulency and the red-hot gas within the nebulous disk is not cognise .
ALMA image of the cool gas within the accretion disk. Areas in blue are moving toward us, while the regions in red are moving away—evidence that the accretion disk is spinning around the black hole, which is shown by the crosshair.Image: (ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), E.M. Murchikova; NRAO/AUI/NSF, S. Dagnello)
But as the Modern research shows , cooler accelerator pedal also exists in close proximity to the supermassive black-market trap . Using the ALMA telescope in Chile ’s Atacama desert , the astronomers detect the faint mm - wavelength sign emanating from a cool ring of throttle . These signals — the result of radiation on H atoms — traveled 26,000 light - years to Earth with just any abasement along the mode . The termination is the first - ever range of the cooler gas disk . improbably , it ’s located one hundredth of a light - year away from Sagittarius A * and is roughly 20,000 time the diam of the black cakehole .
The ALMA data also allow Murchikova and her colleagues to track the location and motion of the gas pedal within the accretion disc . Owing to the tuner igniter doppler effect , which make sack of blue ( moving toward us ) and violent ( moving away from us ) , the astronomer were able to see that the gas was lento rotating around the black yap . The amount of hydrogen within the coolheaded area of the disc was guess at around one - tenth the full mass of Jupiter .
Importantly , these watching leave new perceptiveness into how the supermassive bootleg hole at the center of the Milky Way collect and devours surrounding thing . In the novel report , the investigator estimate that Sagittarius A * gobbles up a relatively tiny amount of matter — less than half a percent of the hatful of the Moon per year .
These newfangled watching are exciting , but Murchikova say “ we still have no effective reason of how ” the accumulation physical process actually works at Sagittarius A * . A deeper diva into the new ALMA datum , plus observance by other observatories , will hopefully reveal more about the monster parked at the core of our extragalactic nebula .
Correction : This article previously tell the blue sphere in the disgraceful hole image are proceed away from us while the red areas are toward is ; the reversal is really on-key , with the blue area ( the shorter wavelength ) moving toward us , an example of the Doppler effect . The icon legend antecedently used the countersign “ blue ” to pertain to both colors and has also been updated . We repent the errors .
AstronomyBlack holesMilky WayScience
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