Our Black Hole’s Rapid Spin

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Video imagery:

·       Zoom to the center of galaxy with Hubble Space Telescope data: NASA, ESA, STScI.

·       Black hole animation: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Jeremy Schnittman

·       Artist's illustration of cross-section of Sagittarius A* and surrounding material: NASA, CXC

·       Animation of black hole destroying a star and sending out particle jets: NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, CI Lab

Music from Music for Non-Profits

 

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Images of galaxies, gaseous clouds of cosmic matter, fantastic birthing centers of star clusters. 

 

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Title, News From the Universe. 

 

Text, February 16, 2024. Our Black Hole's Rapid Spin. 

 

Scientists have a new way of determining how fast the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy is spinning. 

 

Using X-ray and radio data, researchers determined the spin of the black hole, named Sagittarius A, based on how material is flowing toward and away from it. An animation shows an orange fluid flowing over a spherical shape. The shape transforms into a circle of red, orange, and yellow hues, spinning around a black hole in the center. 

 

Text, The study finds Sagittarius A is spinning so rapidly it is warping the space-time surrounding it into a shape that can look like a football. 

 

This rapid spin can be an important source of energy for outflows. While Sagittarius A is quiet now, if material wanders into its orbit in the future, it could be jettisoned off into space at an incredibly high speed. A giant yellow orb metamorphosizes into a streaming wave-like blob and then into a disk, with white matter spewing out of its black hole. Text, This news was brought to you in part by the Chandra X-Ray Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

 

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