Molecular gas and X-ray emission around Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s black hole. Image courtesy of Mark D. Gorski et al. (CC BY 4.0)
Joel Kontinen
Some
scientists have found a supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy:
We have
found hot wind blasting out from our galaxy’s supermassive black hole for the
first time, which could help us understand its mysterious inactivity.
Compared to
many other supermassive black holes that lie at the centres of galaxies, our
black hole, called Sagittarius A* or Sgr A*, is relatively quiet. It
doesn’t shoot out vast, powerful jets like black holes in many other galaxies do, which are so bright we can spot them even in the earliest moments
of the universe. But all supermassive black holes, including Sgr A*, are
thought to produce winds – wafts of hot gas blasted out from near the black
hole’s event horizon, where gas is swirling and violently heating up.
Source:
Alex Wilkins 2025