Astronomers detect wind from Milky Way black hole after decades
Astronomers have identified a long-sought wind flowing from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The finding resolves a decades-long question about whether the relatively quiet black hole still interacts with its surroundings through energetic outflows.
The research shows a cone-shaped cavity near Sagittarius A* where cold gas is missing. Scientists used the Atacama Large Millimeter and submillimeter Array in Chile to map cold carbon monoxide gas in the region. They then compared the results with X-ray data from a space telescope. The two datasets aligned. Hot gas filled the same region where cold gas was absent, pointing to a coherent outflow structure driven by the black hole.
The wind appears to escape above and below the galactic plane at an angle of about 45 degrees. It extends across roughly three light years. This geometry suggests that the spin axis of Sagittarius A* may not align with the Milky Way’s disk. The misalignment offers new constraints on how matter behaves near a low-activity supermassive black hole.
Researchers estimate the energy required to drive the observed outflow equals the output of about 25,000 suns. That level of power rules out nearby stars or known supernova events as the source. The team also estimates the wind has been active for at least 20,000 years. The results indicate that even dormant black holes can reshape their environment and push gas outward in ways that may reduce future star formation.
The discovery expands understanding of how quiet galactic centers evolve. It shows that low-luminosity black holes can still generate sustained feedback into surrounding space, altering the structure of gas in their host galaxies.
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