Astronomers have noticed a very fast spinning bubble of gas in the center of our galaxy

This observation can help understand the behavior of black holes. The phenomenon will be magnetic, according to the authors of the study that reveals the discovery of this bubble.

Astronomers have observed the fleeting appearance of a bubble of gas swirling at a “mind-boggling” speed around the black hole at the center of our galaxy, according to A scientific study published Thursday.

The discovery of this bubble, which is only a few hours old, could provide information about the behavior of black holes. These astronomical objects are even more mysterious in that they are literally invisible, the force of their gravity from which not even light can escape.

Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole lurking at the heart of the Milky Way, is about 27,000 light-years from Earth. It was discovered thanks to the motion of the stars revolving around it. The EHT collaboration, a global network of radio telescopes, last May published the first image of the ring of material surrounding a black hole before being sucked into it.

‘Super amazing’ sign

ALMA, one of these radio telescopes located in Chile, caught a “very surprising” signal in the observation data of Sagittarius A*, explained to AFP astrophysicist Masek Wilgus, of the German Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.

A few minutes before ALMA collected this data, the Chandra Space Telescope detected a “massive emission” of X-rays coming from Sagittarius A*, he explained.

The burst of energy, thought to resemble solar storms from the sun, sent a bubble of gas flying around the black hole at full speed, according to the study, published in the Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

The phenomenon, which was observed for about an hour and a half, allowed to calculate that the gas bubble made a complete orbit of the black hole in just 70 minutes, and thus at a speed equal to 30% of the speed of light, which is 300,000 km per second. Speed ​​”defies imagination,” according to Masek Wilgus.

phenomenon of magnetic origin

The phenomenon will be of magnetic origin, according to the theory revealed by the scientist. The black hole’s magnetic field is so strong that it prevents some of the matter circulating around it from being absorbed.

But this buildup of material leads to a “flux eruption,” which breaches the magnetic field and releases a burst of energy, shaped like a bubble of gas, according to the astrophysicist.

Observations of these magnetic fields should help understand how black holes work. They can also indicate how fast these black holes rotate on themselves.