Scientists Detect Missing Feature of Milky Way's Black Hole
WHO:
CNN - Mark Gorski, research assistant professor at Northwestern University; Lena Murchikova, assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Northwestern; Christopher Reynolds, professor of astronomy at the University of Maryland; Dan Wilkins, research assistant professor in the department of astronomy at Ohio State University; Priyamvada Natarajan, Joseph S. and Sophia S. Fruton Professor of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University.
WHAT:
CNN - Researchers created a highly detailed image of Sagittarius A* that revealed a cavity with an opening angle of 45 degrees leading back to the black hole.
CNN - The study suggests that the hot gas wind from Sagittarius A* is warm and strong enough to heat and blow away surrounding cold gas, similar to how a hair dryer works on wet hair.
CNN - The researchers plan to expand the map of cold gas to a larger region and create a "movie" of the gas approaching the black hole to observe its movement and estimate gas consumption.
CNN - Scientists detected evidence of wind from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
CNN - The black hole has a mass of about 4 million suns.
CNN - Researchers created a highly detailed image of the black hole’s surrounding area, identifying a cavity about 3 light-years long.
CNN - The study on the discovery was published on June 4 in the journal The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
CNN - The researchers observed a cone-shaped cavity devoid of cold gas, suggesting the presence of a wind of hot gas from the black hole.
WHERE:
CNN - The observations were made using advanced radio telescopes in Chile, specifically the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA).
WHEN:
CNN - The researchers conducted observations over a period of five years.
CNN - Clues of wind eruptions from Sagittarius A* date back more than 20,000 years.
WHY:
CNN - The discovery indicates that supermassive black holes can still launch winds into their host galaxies even during quiet phases of growth, challenging previous assumptions about their behavior.
CNN - The discovery may solve a long-standing mystery about why Sagittarius A* appeared to lack the outflows observed from supermassive black holes in other galaxies.
CNN - The black hole was previously thought to be different from other black holes due to its lack of detectable wind.
HOW:
CNN - Researchers used the ALMA radio telescopes to create the most detailed map of cold gas around Sagittarius A* and removed radio interference.
CNN - NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory was used to confirm that the cold gas was being sculpted by hot plasma from the galactic center.
CNN - The researchers deduced the direction and energy of the wind without directly detecting the particles moving in it.
(UPDATED June 17, 2026 01:48 UTC)
Researchers have created a highly detailed image of Sagittarius A*, revealing a cavity with a 45-degree opening angle leading back to the black hole. The study indicates that the hot gas wind from Sagittarius A* is powerful enough to heat and blow away surrounding cold gas, much like a hair dryer on wet hair. Looking ahead, the researchers plan to expand their map of cold gas and create a "movie" of the gas approaching the black hole to observe its movement and estimate gas consumption.
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(UPDATED June 16, 2026 23:31 UTC)
Scientists have detected evidence of wind from Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, which has a mass of about 4 million suns. Using advanced radio telescopes in Chile, researchers created a highly detailed image of the black hole’s surrounding area, revealing a cone-shaped cavity about 3 light-years long that suggests the presence of hot gas wind, a finding that may help explain why Sagittarius A* appeared to lack the outflows seen in other galaxies. This groundbreaking study, which took five years to complete and was published on June 4 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, utilized the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to confirm the influence of hot plasma on the cold gas around the black hole.