Astronomers have discovered a hot bubble of gas orbiting around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, “Sagittarius A*” at a speed of more than 200 million miles per hour, according to the website..RT
The hot bubble orbits around the Sagittarius A* region at regarding one-third the speed of light in an orbit the size of Mercury, completing a full circle in just over an hour..
Scientists say this discovery can help us better understand the mysterious and dynamic environment of the enormous void at the heart of our galaxy.
“We think we’re looking at a hot gas bubble orbiting Sagittarius A* in an orbit similar to the size of Mercury – but making a complete loop in just regarding 70 minutes,” said lead author Dr. Masikuelgus from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany.
He added, “This requires an amazing speed of regarding 30% of the speed of light.”“.
An international team discovered the “hot spot” using the ALMA telescope (the Atacama Large Millimeter/ Sub-millimeter Array) in the Chilean Andes..
Supermassive black holes are incredibly dense regions at the centers of galaxies, acting as intense gravitational sources that lift dust and gas around them..
The Sagittarius A* region is located only regarding 26,000 light-years from Earth, and is one of the very few black holes in the universe where we can actually see the flow of matter nearby..
But, because the region absorbs all the ambient light, it is extremely difficult to see, so scientists have spent decades searching for hints of black hole activity..
Recent observations were made by the European Southern Observatory (IT’S) In cooperation with the Event Horizon Telescope” (EHT) to photograph black holes.