Death hole revealed in the "heart" of the galaxy containing Earth

(NLDO) - Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed that Sagittarius A* - the "monster heart" of the galaxy containing Earth - has a strange gas vent.

Sagittarius A* is the "hibernating" central black hole of the Milky Way galaxy, the galaxy that contains Earth.

The strange hole that has just been discovered is located about 26,000 light-years from Earth and is connected to a previously discovered chimney-like structure that is perpendicular to the galactic plane.

According to Sci-News, this result reveals how Sagittarius A* can eat and remove matter.

The vent - with the enlarged image on the left - was discovered on the "chimney" structure of the black hole at the center of the galaxy containing Earth - Photo: NASA

Previously, radio emissions recorded by the MeerKAT radio telescope system located in South Africa showed the effects of magnetic fields surrounding gas in the "chimney".

Using Chandra to take a closer look at this structure, a team led by Dr Scott Mackey from the University of Chicago (USA) discovered a number of X-ray fringes that were almost perpendicular to the plane of the galaxy.

“We suspect that the magnetic fields are acting like the walls of a ‘chimney’ and the hot gas is moving through them, like smoke,” said Dr Mackey.

Eventually, they noticed that this "chimney" structure had a hole in the top.

They think the vent forms when hot gas rising through the “chimney” hits cooler gas in its path. The brightness of the vent wall in X-rays is due to the shock wave created by this collision.

The researchers suggest that the hot gas most likely comes from a chain of events involving matter falling into Sagittarius A* and then erupting from the black hole, traveling up the chimney and out through the vent.

In other words, it is what is released from the "burp" of the galactic heart that contains the Earth, after meals.

Despite being in a state of hibernation, Sagittarius A* still rips apart and devours a star every 20,000 years or so.

Such events would result in a powerful, explosive release of energy, much of which would rise up through this vent and possibly many other holes in the "chimney" structure.

The particles and energies in this vent promise to provide clues to the origin of two mysterious and much larger structures around the galaxy, the Fermi Bubble and the eROSITA Bubble.

“The origin of Fermi Bubbles and eROSITA Bubble Inflation is one of the biggest mysteries facing studies of high-energy radiation from galaxies. We have discovered a small structure that may play a big role in creating these giant bubbles,” said Dr. Mackey.

In addition, these strange vents also provide important information about past explosive activity near the center of the Milky Way, helping us understand more about the giant galaxy we live in.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/lo-thung-tu-than-lo-ra-giua-trai-tim-thien-ha-chua-trai-dat-196240521105810365.htm