Artist's impression of a Black hole

Artist's impression Image by eli007 from Pixabay

Artist's impression of a Black hole

Artist's impression Image by eli007 from Pixabay

A supermassive black hole is ‘erupting’ at the heart of the Milky Way

Artist's impression Image by eli007 from Pixabay

Hot gas funnelling away from the supermassive black hole at the heart of our Milky Way has been found by scientists.

This cosmic ‘exhaust vent’ was spotted by researchers using NASA‘s Chandra X-ray space telescope looking at Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), which resides at the center of our galaxy. It’s linked to a chimney-like formation, sitting at a right angle in the galaxy‘s disc.

Supermassive black holes consume gas, dust and other stars around them, but the one at the center of the Milky Way isn’t as hungry as others scattered across the universe.

The newly-discovered vent is situated around 700 light-years from the exact galactic center, at the top of the ‘chimney’, which was previously found using the European Space Agency (ESA), telescope.

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Supermassive black hole Sgr A* at the center of the Milky Way
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Univ. of Chicago/S.C. Mackey et al.; Radio: NRF/SARAO/MeerKAT; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk

The x-ray image reveals magnetic fields entrap the chimney’s gas, with scientists theorizing the walls of the tunnel shifts hot gas away from Sgr A*.

They believe the hot gas impacts cooler gas in its path, leading to shockwaves on the vent walls.

As material falls towards it, the supermassive black hole in the Milky Way erupts, pushing it through the chimney and vent, researchers suggest.

It’s also believed to rip apart and consume any unfortunate star that moves too close every 20,000 years or so. These ‘tidal disruption events’ release massive amounts of energy that move through the chimney.

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