Using an array of ALMA radio telescopes, astronomers took pictures of the area around a supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way, which provided evidence of the existence of small clouds of interstellar gas and dust orbiting around a central monster at high speed.
The detected compact clouds of molecular gas with a high content of hydrogen, called molecular clouds, have never before been clearly identified. In the above picture, the distribution of molecules of carbon monoxide, the second most abundant molecular component in the clouds, is clearly visible.
The registered objects are located at a distance of 26,000 light years from the Earth, have large orbital velocities and are located relatively close – approximately at a distance of one light year – from the black hole Sigattarius A*.
A study of the ALMA data showed that the original massive clouds were fragmented by tidal forces into more dense and short-lived, less dense components. The latter were able to be detected due to the specific signs of the passage of synchrotron radiation emitted by a black hole through a diffuse gas between the “clouds”.
Although usually clouds of molecular gas are potentially capable of generating new stars, this hardly refers to clouds: their masses are relatively small, only about 60 solar masses, and they are in the zone of action of powerful destabilizing gravitational forces.
Unknown objects identified in the center of the Milky Way
Click To Tweet
The post Unknown objects identified in the center of the Milky Way appeared first on Upcosmos.com.