Astronomers have found a gas blob in the center of our galaxy that is at a very fast speed.
Astronomers are using its characteristics to investigate the space surrounding Sagittarius A* in the search for answers about why the center of the universe flickers and flares.
The black hole is surrounded by a disk of material that is magnetic.
The space around a black hole gets crazy.
"We 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," Maciek said.
It takes about 30 percent of the light's speed to do this.
An image of the black hole years in the making was unveiled earlier this year by the event horizon telescope collaboration.
The donut-shaped ring of material swirling around Sgr A* was revealed by the telescopes around the world.
The ALMA is a radio telescope array located in the desert ofChile.
While studying the data alone, in isolation from the rest of the collaboration, Wielgus and colleagues noticed something.
There was an X-ray flare in April of last year. Astronomers were working on the event horizon telescope project at the time.
These flares have been associated with blobs of hot gas that are very close to the black hole.
"What's new and interesting is that the flares were only present in the X-ray and IR observations of Sagittarius A*." For the first time, we can see that hot spots are present in radio observations.
The hot gas interacting with a magnetic field is thought to be the cause of the flares.
The hot spot emits light that is twisted and shows the signature of a strong magnetic field.
The hot spot cooling down after the flare could be the reason for the glow in radio light.
"We find strong evidence for a magnetic origin of these flares and our observations give us a clue about the geometry of the process," says astronomer Monika Mocibrodzka.
The new data can be used to build a theoretical interpretation of these events.
According to the analysis of the light, the hot spot is in a disk. There is a disk of material that is swirling around and feeding into a black hole, but at a slower rate because of the magnetic field.
The team was able to provide better constraints on the shape and motion of the magnetic field through modeling.
We don't know many things. Black holes are hard to look at, and there are some discrepancies when compared with other flares.
The team hopes that by observing future hot spot flares in the future, they will be able to iron out some of the issues.
One day, we will be able to say that we know what's happening in Sagittarius A*.
The research was published in astronomy and astrophysics.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
