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Sagittarius A

All articles tagged with #sagittarius a

space19 days ago•8 min saved

Could Dark Matter Be the Real Heart of the Milky Way?

Astronomers are rethinking the Milky Way’s centre: the long-held view that a supermassive black hole (Sagittarius A*) sits at the heart may be challenged by a fermionic dark matter core that could explain the observed stellar motions and even mimic the black hole’s shadow. Distinguishing the scenarios hinges on precise orbital precession measurements, which future upgrades like GRAVITY+ and the Extremely Large Telescope (and next-gen EHT observations) could enable. If verified, the idea would reshape galactic dynamics and dark matter physics, forcing a rethink of how galaxies host and regulate their centres.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|

#black-hole #dark-matter #gaia

space19 days ago•7 min saved

Milky Way’s Quiet Core Reveals Hidden Wind From Its Central Black Hole

Astronomers using ALMA and Chandra detected a cone-shaped cavity around Sagittarius A*, signaling a hot wind from the Milky Way’s central black hole that has cleared nearby gas; the outflow is estimated to have been active for at least 20,000 years, offering new insight into how Sgr A* influences its environment even in a relatively quiet state and into black hole feedback in galaxies.

via SciTechDaily|

#alma #black-hole-wind #chandra

space21 days ago•96 min saved

Echo mapping hints dark matter clusters around supermassive black holes

Astronomers used reverberation (echo) mapping to probe gas around supermassive black holes in 14 galaxies, finding in five cases that the enclosed mass increases with distance from the SMBH beyond what visible matter can explain. The results hint at dark matter clustering around SMBHs like Sagittarius A* and M87, offering a new method to study dark matter environments, though the findings are preliminary and not conclusive.

via Space|

#black-holes #dark-matter #echo-mapping

science-space25 days ago•190 min saved

Milky Way’s Central Black Hole Reveals Hidden Wind

Astronomers using ALMA radio maps and NASA’s Chandra X-ray data detected a 3-light-year cone-shaped cavity around Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, indicating a previously unseen wind. The finding helps explain why our galaxy’s center appeared windless and provides a new observable for understanding how black holes influence their host galaxies.

via CNN|

#alma #black-hole-wind #chandra

space25 days ago•94 min saved

Ancient supernova debris spotted near the Milky Way’s black hole

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, with help from XMM-Newton, detected a bright X-ray blob near the Milky Way’s center—likely the wreckage of a supernova that exploded about 1,700 years ago and is the closest such debris to Sagittarius A*. The debris lies in a bubble of ionized gas dubbed Sagittarius C and is seen moving at roughly 2 million mph. While an SN origin is favored, some uncertainty remains whether the emission could be from gas heated by nearby massive stars. The study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, highlights how such debris contributes to chemical enrichment and the birth of future stars and planets.

via Space|

#milky-way-center #sagittarius-a #sagittarius-c

space27 days ago•11 min saved

Milky Way’s Center Comes Into View: First Photo of Sagittarius A*

The Event Horizon Telescope released the first image of the Milky Way’s central black hole, Sagittarius A*, in 2022. The 4-million-solar-mass object lies about 27,000 light-years away. Eight linked radio observatories formed an Earth-sized telescope, and the ring around the shadow matches General Relativity despite the object’s minute-scale variability; researchers now plan time-resolved movies to study gravity in action.

via Space Daily|

#astronomy #black-holes #event-horizon-telescope

science1 month ago•6 min saved

Milky Way’s central black hole reveals a cosmic wind reshaping its surroundings

Astronomers using ALMA and Chandra observations have captured the first clear evidence of a wind blowing from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, carving a cone-shaped cavity in surrounding cold gas and indicating the black hole has been actively shaping its environment for at least 20,000 years while remaining relatively quiet compared with active galaxies.

via BBC Sky at Night Magazine|

#alma #black-hole #galactic-center

astronomy2 months ago•6 min saved

Hidden Filaments in Milky Way Core Trace Ancient Black Hole Outflow

Astronomers using the MeerKAT radio telescope found a new population of horizontal, 5–10 light-year filaments near the Galactic Center that point toward Sagittarius A*. Their thermal emissions and alignment along the galactic plane differ from previously known vertical filaments, suggesting a past energetic outflow from the Milky Way’s central black hole and offering clues about its accretion disk orientation and history.

via The Daily Galaxy|

#astronomy #filaments #meerkat

space4 months ago•2 min saved

Milky Way’s Core May Be a Dense Dark Matter Core, Not a Black Hole

A new study proposes the Milky Way’s central mass could be a dense fermionic dark matter core rather than Sagittarius A*, capable of reproducing the observed fast S-star orbits and the galaxy’s Keplerian rotation decline, and it might even mimic the black hole shadow seen by the Event Horizon Telescope; while provocative, the idea isn’t yet proven and future observations are needed to confirm or refute it.

via Futurism|

#black-hole #dark-matter #fermionic-dark-matter

astronomy5 months ago•6 min saved

Could Dark Matter Rule the Milky Way's Core?

New research suggests the Milky Way’s central mass, traditionally attributed to the black hole Sagittarius A*, could instead be a dense fermionic dark matter core. The observed orbits of stars like S2 and Gaia rotation curves fit both a black hole and this dark-matter model, meaning current data cannot distinguish them. If the dark matter interpretation holds, it would imply a continuous dark-matter structure linking the galactic center to the halo, reshaping our view of the Milky Way’s mass distribution. Future observations, including higher-resolution EHT data and longer-term stellar monitoring, could resolve the true nature of Sgr A*.

via ScienceAlert|

#astronomy #dark-matter #fermionic-dark-matter

research-and-discovery5 months ago•5 min saved

Potential Pulsar Near Galactic Center Could Probe General Relativity

Columbia University and Breakthrough Listen identify an 8.19-millisecond pulsar candidate near the Milky Way’s Sagittarius A*, with follow-up observations underway; confirming it could enable precision tests of General Relativity around the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole.

via Columbia University|

#breakthrough-listen #general-relativity #milky-way-center

science5 months ago•13 min saved

Milky Way's heart may hide a dark-matter core, not a black hole

A new study argues the Milky Way’s centre could be a dense dark-matter core wrapped in a halo, potentially mimicking a black hole’s gravity and explaining the rapid orbits of S-stars as well as the shadow seen by the Event Horizon Telescope.

via The Times|

#dark-matter #event-horizon-telescope #milky-way-center

space-and-spaceflight5 months ago•17 min saved

Dark Matter Core Emerges as Challenger to the Galactic Center’s Black Hole

Simulations show a dense dark matter core at the Milky Way’s center could mimic Sagittarius A*’s gravity, matching observed orbital data as well as a black hole and aligning with Gaia DR3, but the model isn’t decisively better yet; next-gen instruments will test whether dark matter could truly dominate the Galactic Center.

via Gizmodo|

#black-holes #dark-matter #galactic-center

science5 months ago•6 min saved

Chandra Expands X-ray Universe With 400k-Source Catalog and Sonic Map

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory released CSC 2.1, a vastly expanded catalog with more than 400,000 X-ray sources and 1.3 million detections up to 2020, plus new imagery of the Galactic Center around Sagittarius A* and a 22-year sonification of Chandra data—demonstrating cross-mission science with JWST and Hubble and that Chandra continues observing beyond 2021.

via NASA (.gov)|

#chandra-source-catalog #chandra-x-ray-observatory #csc-21

science8 months ago•5 min saved

AI Uncovers New Insights into the Milky Way's Black Hole

AI analysis of the Milky Way's central black hole, Sagittarius A*, suggests it spins rapidly with a high spin parameter and a slight tilt, providing new insights into its behavior and structure, aided by advanced machine learning techniques and upcoming telescope upgrades.

via Earth.com|

#ai #black-hole #event-horizon-telescope