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Scientists Learn How the Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way Formed

  • September 10, 2024
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Black holes are the most mysterious objects in the universe. The history of their origins is full of mysteries, and their size and mass stagger the imagination. Recently,

Scientists Learn How the Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way Formed

Black holes are the most mysterious objects in the universe. The history of their origins is full of mysteries, and their size and mass stagger the imagination. Recently, with the help of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), astrophysicists have obtained convincing evidence that Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, was formed as a result of a merger.


The image of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, located more than 26 thousand light-years away from Earth, was published in 2022 and was the result of work by the global research team of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT Collaboration) using observations from the worldwide network of radio telescopes.

Scientists at the UNLV Center for Astrophysics (NCfA) have uncovered surprising details about the origin of Sagittarius A*. The results of the research were published in the journal Nature AstronomyHe showed that the “heart” of the Milky Way was formed by the merger of two black holes about nine billion years ago.

Recall that supermassive black holes either arise from the merger of several black holes or grow over time due to the accretion of matter. To understand which of the two options is correct for Sagittarius A*, astrophysicists modeled the effects of the merger by considering scenarios consistent with the rotational properties observed with the Event Horizon Telescope.

The results showed that Sagittarius A* was formed by the merger of another supermassive black hole in a nearby companion galaxy.

“Our discovery paves the way for understanding how supermassive black holes grow and evolve. The shift in the high spin of Sagittarius A* indicates a possible merger with another black hole. As a result of this event, Sagittarius A* sharply changed the amplitude and direction of its spin,” the authors of the scientific paper wrote.

It is worth noting that the new study confirms the theory of black hole mergers and also provides insight into the history and evolution of the Milky Way. The data obtained is important for future research.

Source: Port Altele

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