{"id":25367,"date":"2022-09-22T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T12:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=25367"},"modified":"2022-09-20T17:15:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T21:15:10","slug":"eso-hot-gas-bubble-observed-orbiting-the-milky-ways-supermassive-black-hole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=25367","title":{"rendered":"ESO: Hot gas bubble observed orbiting the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report from the European Southern Observatory (ESO)<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Astronomers detect hot gas bubble swirling around
\nthe Milky Way\u2019s supermassive black hole<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
This shows a still image of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, as seen by the Event Horizon Collaboration (EHT), with an artist\u2019s illustration indicating where the modelling of the ALMA data predicts the hot spot to be and its orbit around the black hole. Credits: ESO<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have spotted signs of a \u2018hot spot\u2019 orbiting Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the centre of our galaxy. The finding helps us better understand the enigmatic and dynamic environment of our supermassive black hole.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think we’re looking at a hot bubble of gas zipping around Sagittarius A* on an orbit similar in size to that of the planet Mercury, but making a full loop in just around 70 minutes. This requires a mind blowing velocity of about 30% of the speed of light!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

says Maciek Wielgus of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, who led the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The observations were made with ALMA in the Chilean Andes \u2014 a radio telescope co-owned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) \u2014 during a campaign by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration to image black holes. In April 2017 the EHT linked together eight existing radio telescopes worldwide, including ALMA, resulting in the recently released first ever image of Sagittarius A*<\/a>. To calibrate the EHT data, Wielgus and his colleagues, who are members of the EHT Collaboration, used ALMA data recorded simultaneously with the EHT observations of Sagittarius A*. To the team’s surprise, there were more clues to the nature of the black hole hidden in the ALMA-only measurements.<\/p>\n