At the heart of our galaxy, there is a monster black hole. Known as Sagittarius A*, it has a mass of 4.2 million Suns, and it’s only about 27,000 light-years from Earth. Sag A* is the closest supermassive black hole, and one of only two that we’ve observed directly. It is so close that we can even see stars closely orbiting it. Some of those stars we’ve been observing for more than 20 years, which means we have a very good handle on their orbits.
Most galaxies contain a supermassive black hole, and some galaxies contain two. This is caused by galactic mergers, where the black hole of one galaxy is captured by another. We know from observations that our galaxy doesn’t have two supermassive black holes. There could be stellar mass black holes orbiting Sag A*, but current observations wouldn’t be sensitive enough to detect them. Another possibility is that there is an intermediate black hole orbiting Sag A*, which is the focus of this work.
An Intermediate Mass Black Hole is one with a mass between hundreds and thousands of Suns. They aren’t formed by the collapse of a massive star, nor are they the gravitational seeds of galaxies. They’ve only recently been discovered through the gravitational waves of black hole mergers, so they aren’t well understood. We don’t even know how common they might be. But if an IMBH orbits Sag A*, its gravitational pull would affect the orbits of nearby stars also orbiting our supermassive black hole.
We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
James Webb Space Telescope captures vibrant details of the Milky Way's galactic neighbor (photo)Glowing green and gold, NGC 6822, could teach us a lot about the ancient, metal-poor universe.
Source: SPACEdotcom - 🏆 92. / 67 Read more »
Reservation Dogs Recap: Lost in the Milky WayBear sees firsthand how important it is to stay connected to his community.
Source: NYMag - 🏆 111. / 63 Read more »
Dragon Ball Super Reveals Critical Blow: Goten & Gohan Super RaresTwo new Super Rare cards from DragonBallSuper Card Game's next set Critical Blow have been revealed to feature a Gohan & Goten Super Saiyan team-up. DBSCG DragonBall
Source: bleedingcool - 🏆 20. / 69 Read more »
Still alive and kicking: A significant outburst in changing-look AGN Mrk 1018Changing-look active galactic nuclei (CL-AGN) have been observed to change optical spectral type. Mrk 1018 is unique: first classified as a type 1.9 Seyfert galaxy, it transitioned to a type 1 before returning to its initial classification after approximately 30 years. We present a high-cadence monitoring programme that caught a major outburst in 2020. Due to sunblock, only the decline could be observed. We studied X-ray, UV, optical, and IR before and after the outburst to investigate the responses of the AGN structures. We derived a u'-band light curve of the AGN contribution alone. The flux increased by a factor of the order of 13. We confirmed this in other optical bands and determined the shape and speed of the decline in each waveband. The shapes of H beta and H alpha were analysed before and after the event. Two XMM-Newton observations from before and after the outburst were also exploited. The outburst is asymmetric, with a swifter rise than decline. The decline is best fit by a linear function, ruling out a tidal disruption event. The optical spectrum shows no change approximately 8 months before and 17 months after. The UV flux increased slightly after the outburst but the X-ray primary flux is unchanged. However, the 6.4 keV Iron line has doubled in strength. IR data taken 13 days after the observed optical peak show an increased emission level. Calculating the distance of the broad-line region and inner edge of the torus from the supermassive black hole can explain the multi-wavelength response to the outburst, in particular: i) the unchanged H beta and H alpha lines, ii) the unchanged primary X-ray spectral components, iii) the rapid and extended infrared response, as well as iv) the enhanced emission of the reflected 6.4 keV line. The outburst was due to a dramatic and short-lasting change in the intrinsic accretion rate. We discuss different models as potential causes.
Source: physorg_com - 🏆 388. / 55 Read more »
Normani, Marrisa Wilson and More Entrepreneurs on Celebrating Black-owned Brands During Black Business MonthTo celebrate Black Business Month, Normani showed support to the nonprofit organization Buy From a Black Woman Tour with H&M.
Source: wwd - 🏆 24. / 68 Read more »
Get ready for a SpongeBob and slime Super Bowl: CBS and Nickelodeon team up for NFL's biggest gameSpongeBob and Slimetime are coming to the Super Bowl.The NFL and CBS Sports announced Tuesday that this season's Super Bowl will have a kids-centric presentatio
Source: 13WHAM - 🏆 256. / 63 Read more »