The Milky Way's supermassive black hole has a hot spot

[Judi Lynn]

By Robert Lea published about 18 hours ago
The orbiting spot could be a bubble of hot gas whipping around Sagittarius A* at around 30% of the speed of light.



Astronomers have spotted a bright 'hot spot' swirling around the supermassive black hole at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).

The team behind the discovery thinks that the 'hot spot' could be a bubble of hot gas orbiting Sgr A* as fast as 30% of the speed of light. The discovery could help astronomers and astrophysicists better understand the violent environment at the center of the Milky Way, and around Sgr A* in particular.

"We think we're looking at a hot bubble of gas zipping around Sgr A* on an orbit similar in size to that of the planet Mercury, but making a full loop in just around 70 minutes," Maciek Wielgus, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany, said in a statement(opens in new tab). "This requires a mind-blowing velocity of about 30% of the speed of light!"



Sagittarius A*, as seen by the Event Horizon Collaboration (EHT) with an illustration of the hot spot seen by astronomers. (Image credit: EHT Collaboration, ESO/M. Kornmesser (Acknowledgment: M. Wielgus))

Wielgus led a team that collected observational data using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) telescope, comprised of 66 radio antennas spread across the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, as part of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration's work to image black holes.

More:
https://www.space.com/milky-way-supermassive-black-hole-hot-spot

[3Hotdogs]

1. Look at the fukkin thing. Look at the middle. IT MOVES !

Somebody get ahold'a Qanon. They'll fix it.