Milky Way’s Black Hole Wind

Milky Way’s Black Hole Wind
Oktay Yürük aka Oktay74tn, science and tech content
https://imgur.com/user/Oktay74tn

This ALMA and Chandra composite image marks the end of a 50-year search. It shows the black hole wind of Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole of the Milky Way at a distance of 26,000 light-years. This carbon monoxide map has an 80 times higher angular resolution than previous maps of the region.

The black hole is the bright dot at the center. ALMA observations in orange show the carbon monoxide gas with a temperature of 100 Kelvin. Chandra X-ray observations in blue show hot gas with a temperature of 10 million Kelvin. The white arrows mark the large cavity created by the black hole wind.

The south-southwest conical clearing has a size of 1 parsec or 3.3 light-years. Its opening angle is 45 degrees. The dashed arrows represent the misaligned counter wind cone in the north. The gentle wind has been blowing for at least 200,000 years. Astronomers think that its direction changes over time.

This is a diagram of the CO (carbon monoxide) gas rotation around the black hole indicated with a star symbol. The left, blue part is moving toward us, and the right, red part is moving away from us. The maximum rotation speed is 200 kilometers per second.

Sagittarius A* has a jet power of 10 to the 37 to 10 to the 38 erg per second. One erg is 10 to the minus 7 Joules. Young cluster stars and Wolf-Rayet stars have a comparable energy. However, stellar winds are spherical, not conical.

This is an artist's image of the Milky Way's profile. Strong black hole winds can quench star formation across an entire galaxy. The Milky Way has a star formation rate of two solar masses per year.

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The Discovery of an Active Wind from the Milky Way's Black Hole
Mark D. Gorski, Elena Murchikova
https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.10615

ALMA Finally Catches the Milky Way's Black Hole “Breathing”
https://www.almaobservatory.org/en/press-releases/alma-finally-catches-the-milky-ways-black-hole-breathing/

They've Been Searching for the Milky Way's Black Hole Wind for 50 Years and Finally Found It
Evan Gough
https://www.universetoday.com/articles/theyve-been-searching-for-the-milky-ways-black-hole-wind-for-50-years-and-finally-found-it

Astronomers Finally Find Milky Way’s Missing Black Hole Wind
https://www.sci.news/astronomy/milky-ways-black-hole-wind-14827.html

Wikipedia articles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A*
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermassive_black_hole
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milky_Way
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Large_Millimeter_Array
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_X-ray_Observatory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erg

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Black Hole Series

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https://imgur.com/gallery/subpopulations-of-merging-black-holes-4kZG94f

Black Holes From Another Universe
https://imgur.com/gallery/black-holes-from-another-universe-4GY7fhZ

Quasar Feedback Quenching Galaxies
https://imgur.com/gallery/quasar-feedback-quenching-galaxies-LQbRUSD

Upper Neutrino Mass Limit: New Data From KATRIN
https://imgur.com/gallery/upper-neutrino-mass-limit-new-data-from-katrin-VF3KfiD

Eight Ultramassive Black Holes Discovered
https://imgur.com/gallery/eight-ultramassive-black-holes-discovered-bs5Cj3b

NGC 3783 Supermassive Black Hole With 0.19c Outflow
https://imgur.com/gallery/ngc-3783-supermassive-black-hole-with-0-19c-outflow-mtmZJ7K

Supermassive Dark Star Candidates
https://imgur.com/gallery/supermassive-dark-star-candidates-wqy7YrD

Supermassive Black Hole Growth Siumlation
https://imgur.com/gallery/supermassive-black-hole-growth-simulation-Q9SuYUA

Webb Discovers The Cliff - A Black Hole Star
https://imgur.com/gallery/webb-discovers-cliff-black-hole-star-RoiST05

First Black Hole Trinary Detected
https://imgur.com/gallery/first-black-hole-trinary-detected-fyTyc0n

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https://imgur.com/gallery/rogue-black-hole-manga-12772-12704-DeYNxZC

Ultramassive Black Hole in the Cosmic Horseshoe
https://imgur.com/gallery/ultramassive-black-hole-cosmic-horseshoe-AXmwgbF

KM3NeT Detects Black Hole Explosion Candidate
https://imgur.com/gallery/km3net-detects-black-hole-explosion-candidate-UNyRhQc

Webb Finds Oldest Black Hole CAPERS-LRD-z9
https://imgur.com/gallery/webb-finds-oldest-black-hole-capers-lrd-z9-JuFZlj2

OJ 287 Galaxy With Supermassive Black Hole Binary
https://imgur.com/gallery/oj-287-galaxy-with-supermassive-black-hole-binary-rZfI1ZR

Black Hole Merger in the Galactic Center
https://imgur.com/gallery/black-hole-merger-galactic-center-acbv8QR

Stars That Survive a Black Hole Encounter
https://imgur.com/gallery/stars-that-survive-black-hole-encounter-i5GE0hb

Check out https://imgur.com/user/Oktay74tn for many more astronomy and technology videos.