Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have discovered an ‘exhaust vent’ funneling hot gas away from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. This vent is about 26,000 light-years from Earth and is connected to a chimney-like structure previously discovered that is perpendicular to the Galactic plane. The Chandra data show a cylindrical tunnel that helps funnel gas toward the outer reaches of the Milky Way. This result reveals how the Milky Way’s black hole may ingest and reject material.
The chimney begins at the center of the Milky Way and stands perpendicular to the Galaxy’s spiral disk.
Astronomers had previously identified the chimney using X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra and ESA’s XMM-Newton missions.
Radio emission detected by the MeerKAT radio telescope shows the effect of magnetic fields enclosing the gas in the chimney.
The latest Chandra data reveal several X-ray ridges roughly perpendicular to the Galactic plane.
Astronomers think these are the walls of a tunnel, shaped like a cylinder, which helps funnel hot gas as it moves upwards along the chimney and away from the Galactic center.
The newly-discovered vent is located near the top of the chimney about 700 light-years from the center of the Galaxy.
“We suspected that magnetic fields are acting as the walls of the chimney and that hot gas is traveling up through them, like smoke,” said Dr. Scott Mackey, an astronomer at the University of Chicago.
“Now we’ve discovered an exhaust vent near the top of the chimney.”
The astronomers think the exhaust vent formed when hot gas rising through the chimney struck cooler gas lying in its path.
The brightness of the exhaust vent walls in X-rays is caused by shock waves — similar to sonic booms from supersonic planes — generated by this collision.
The left side of the exhaust vent is likely particularly bright because the gas flowing upwards is striking the tunnel wall at a…
Read the full article here