Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray space telescope, scientists have discovered a new cosmic “exhaust vent” funneling hot gas away from Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole that sits at the very heart of our Milky Way galaxy.The newly discovered vent is linked to a chimney-like formation orientated at a right angle in the Milky Way’s disk. The Chandra observation reveals how a “tunnel” at the center of our galaxy helps channel matter to its outer regions.Many supermassive black holes across the universe are voracious consumers of gas and dust, and even stars, around them. The supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, Sgr A*, on the other hand, is a light eater. It consumes so little matter, in fact, that if it were a human, it would sustain itself on about one grain of rice every one million years. The Chandra observations could reveal how this cosmic picky eater selects some matter to consume and rejects other material.Related: New view of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way hints at an exciting hidden feature (image)The vent discovered in X-ray observations of the Galactic Center by Chandra is located around 700 light-years from the region’s exact central area, and at the top of the “chimney.” This chimney was previously discovered using the European Space Agency (ESA) XMM-Newton, which, like Chandra, observes the universe in X-rays.The image of the Galactic Center shows blue X-ray data from Chandra that’s been enhanced by observations collected by the South African MeerKAT radio telescope, seen in red. This radio-wave data reveals the impact of magnetic fields that entrap the chimney’s gas.An image showing lots of streaks of blue, yellow, orange and red. Words depict where certain areas are in the planet of the galaxy, including the black hole.The new vent can be seen at the top of the image as a bright blue and white scar against darker blue gas.In the enhanced image that contains only Chandra data white ridges of brighter X-rays appear. The team behind this research theorizes that these are the walls of a cylindrical tunnel through which hot gas moves upwards and away from Sgr A*, as well as away from its immediate surroundings.A close up of the X-rays depicting the vent seen in the Chandra data.The team behind these observations has an idea of how this exhaust vent was created. They think hot gas passing through …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnUsing NASA’s Chandra X-ray space telescope, scientists have discovered a new cosmic “exhaust vent” funneling hot gas away from Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole that sits at the very heart of our Milky Way galaxy.The newly discovered vent is linked to a chimney-like formation orientated at a right angle in the Milky Way’s disk. The Chandra observation reveals how a “tunnel” at the center of our galaxy helps channel matter to its outer regions.Many supermassive black holes across the universe are voracious consumers of gas and dust, and even stars, around them. The supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, Sgr A*, on the other hand, is a light eater. It consumes so little matter, in fact, that if it were a human, it would sustain itself on about one grain of rice every one million years. The Chandra observations could reveal how this cosmic picky eater selects some matter to consume and rejects other material.Related: New view of the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way hints at an exciting hidden feature (image)The vent discovered in X-ray observations of the Galactic Center by Chandra is located around 700 light-years from the region’s exact central area, and at the top of the “chimney.” This chimney was previously discovered using the European Space Agency (ESA) XMM-Newton, which, like Chandra, observes the universe in X-rays.The image of the Galactic Center shows blue X-ray data from Chandra that’s been enhanced by observations collected by the South African MeerKAT radio telescope, seen in red. This radio-wave data reveals the impact of magnetic fields that entrap the chimney’s gas.An image showing lots of streaks of blue, yellow, orange and red. Words depict where certain areas are in the planet of the galaxy, including the black hole.The new vent can be seen at the top of the image as a bright blue and white scar against darker blue gas.In the enhanced image that contains only Chandra data white ridges of brighter X-rays appear. The team behind this research theorizes that these are the walls of a cylindrical tunnel through which hot gas moves upwards and away from Sgr A*, as well as away from its immediate surroundings.A close up of the X-rays depicting the vent seen in the Chandra data.The team behind these observations has an idea of how this exhaust vent was created. They think hot gas passing through …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
